Halfway Between Misery and the Sun
by studio62
Summary: Recent events come back to haunt in ways that are too tragic to imagine. Will Five-0 be able to survive the fallout? Steve whump & angst, Danny uber angst, bromance front and center. Very dark and intense. A follow up to the events in 5.04 with the added bonus of being set directly after 5.07. Spoilers for both episodes.
1. Chapter 1

Steve was embarrassed that it took him more than a few moments to figure out where he was and that the ringing of his phone was what roused him. He shook off the remnants of his dream and sat up in the armchair to grab his phone.

Amber. What was she doing calling him at - he checked his watch - 1400 on a Friday?

"Hello?" Steve answered in a gravelly voice still laden with sleep.

"Hi. Steve? It's Amber, sorry to call you last minute, but I've got to go in to my lawyer's office for something and I was supposed to pick up Grace from school today. Could you get her?" Amber asked, sounding a little flustered.

"Huh?" Steve gave a little head shake to wake himself up. "Oh yeah, Danny is in court all day. Yeah, sure I can go get Grace. Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, it should be fine," was Amber's distracted reply. "Danny told me under no circumstances to bother you while you were still recovering, but I would just feel terrible if I had to call Rachel."

Steve shifted uncomfortably in the chair when Amber brought up his most recent run-in with Wo Fat. It was the reason that he was caught napping on a Friday afternoon and was not at work with the rest of his task force. The fact that Danny had shared even that much information with Amber bothered him a little, but Steve also considered what that meant for Danny's current relationship. Maybe his partner was opening up a bit more and taking Steve's advice to heart. Danny always saw the worst in everything and Steve had convinced him to really put in an effort with Amber while both men had been trapped under the collapsed parking garage. Steve knew his most recent, and last ever, kidnapping by Wo Fat had shaken his whole team, especially Danny. So maybe the fact that Amber knew something about the situation was a good sign.

"Steve?" Amber questioned hesitantly.

"Yeah, sorry!" replied Steve as he brought himself out of his thoughts. "Don't worry about it, Amber. Rachel is on the Big Island with Stan for one of his business trips anyway. I'm glad you called. I'll go get her and bring her back to my place. You can come by and get her whenever you're done with your lawyer?"

"That sounds great. Thanks again so much, Steve. I really hope that you're feeling better. I'll see you in a few hours," said Amber.

"Yeah, see you later then," Steve said as he hung up. He checked the time and realized he had just enough time to get dressed and grab a quick bite to eat since he had apparently slept through lunch. He had been so bored with his latest recovery and since his team had banned him from even stepping foot in the office that these few hours spent with his favorite honorary niece seemed more exciting than normal.

…..

Steve pulled up in the blue Silverado with a few minutes to spare. It was just over a full week after he had defeated his nemesis and he knew he still looked like hell, but he had finished the last of his pain meds yesterday and knew he would be fine driving. He would have called Chin or Kono and pulled them off the job if he didn't feel up to it. He may have been bored out of his mind but he would never, _never_, risk the safety of Danny's daughter. She was the center of Danny's world and Steve would not be responsible for her coming to harm. He would never forgive himself, let alone even attempt to seek forgiveness from his best friend if he let anything happen to her on his watch.

Steve was ripped from his thoughts by one of the back doors being opened. "Uncle Steve?" came the hesitant question.

"Hey, Gracie! Amber had to run some errands so we get to hang out for a bit this afternoon. How do you want to start off the weekend?" Steve asked with a smile, trying to cover up the fact that he'd been caught off his guard by a teenage girl. He hoped he didn't look as embarrassed as he felt. Everyone was being so careful with him lately, even Gracie.

"Shave ice!" Grace stated enthusiastically, ignoring the surprised look she had seen on her uncle's face when she opened the truck door and climbed in. She knew something had happened to her Uncle Steve, because Danno had been extra quiet and had been staying with him quite a bit in the last week. Danno also wouldn't let her watch the news, but she still heard the rumors in school. She knew that he had been hurt and could just see the healing wound on his forehead when he turned around to speak to her.

"Shave ice it is," Steve declared and pulled out into traffic. "What do you have planned with Danno this weekend?" he asked, looking at her in the rear-view mirror. He noted the dark SUV that pulled out at the same moment a few cars back from them.

"Well, we haven't talked about it, but I thought I'd ask to go to a friend's house tonight so that he and Amber could have some time alone," Grace said, sounding wiser than her years and more than a little conspiratorial.

Steve looked at her in the mirror suspiciously. "You know that your Danno loves spending every minute with you that he can. What makes you think that he and Amber need alone time?" Steve was feeling guiltier by the minute. Grace was right. Danny had been spending a lot of time over at his house, and hadn't left Steve's side in the hospital while the drugs were flushed from his system. Danny had called his daughter every night from either the hospital or Steve's living room, so it wasn't a stretch to assume that she knew something was wrong and that her dad wasn't spending a lot of time with his girlfriend.

"Well. He just…he's been really quiet and he probably needs to spend some time with other adults and talk about… stuff, you know?" Grace was floundering and was obviously trying not to bring up what little she knew about Steve's recovery. Danny was right, she was growing up too fast.

"Well, you know what I think?" Steve asked her as he glanced in the rear-view mirror again, meeting her eyes. "I think that Danno has been stuck in court all day and will be tired of listening to people talk and that he would like nothing better than to spend the whole weekend with you." He smiled at her, but then furrowed his brow as he noticed the SUV make the same turn at the last stoplight. He thought it was the same one he noted at the school, but figured he was just being paranoid. Maybe everyone was right to tread carefully around him right now. He was probably overreacting.

"But what about Amber? Danno hasn't seen Amber in forever. He won't mind if she spends time with us, will he?" asked Grace.

Steve smiled as he thought back to Danny freaking out when Amber and Grace first met. It was actually the same morning as the building collapse and so much had happened since then. Afghanistan, his near death at the hands of the Taliban, Catherine leaving… Danny had been there for him then, too. The weaponized drone that shot him in the leg, and just after he had been cleared for duty again. Then the trouble with Reyes and Matty's death. Steve had tried to be available for his partner but it was hard when he couldn't go to New Jersey with him, and then even harder when Danny didn't take his calls. And most recently this latest business with Wo Fat through which Danny had hardly left his side. Now that Steve thought about it, he owed his friend more than he realized.

"Uncle Steve?" Grace asked hesitantly for the second time that day.

Steve was frustrated by the timidity in her voice. Was it possible that she was scared of him? "Yeah, Gracie?" he asked distractedly as he glanced in the rear-view mirror again and had to struggle to contain his shock. He must have spaced out longer than he realized because the SUV was right on top of them. And it was picking up speed.

Grace was politely repeating her question but Steve didn't hear it as he shouted, "Hold on, Gracie!" and braced for the impact he knew was coming.

The SUV slammed into the rear of the Silverado and Steve was thrown forward into his seat belt. Luckily the airbags didn't deploy, but that didn't provide him much comfort as the SUV began closing the distance once more.

"Gracie, I need to you to get out your phone and call Uncle Chin, okay?" Steve said calmly but firmly and looked in the mirror to see her frozen in fear. "Right now, Grace!" His shout spurred her into action and she reached into her backpack to pull out her phone. He pushed the gas pedal to the floor, trying to buy them some time and wondering what the hell this was all about.

Grace had just pulled out her phone when the SUV lined up for another hit on the empty road. "Hang on!" Steve warned just before the jolt of contact. This time the SUV stayed bumper to bumper with the Silverado and Steve could do little to control his truck as it careened into the guardrail, leaving behind a streak of bright blue on dull gray. The truck was forced up against the normally protective barrier and Steve's heart almost stopped when he tracked it forward and saw that they were quickly running out of rail.

Two weeks ago, right before his kidnapping by Wo Fat, two tourists had lost control of their vehicle in a heavy storm, broken through this exact guardrail and plummeted to their deaths. With no witnesses it had been ruled an accident and the investigation must have finished in the meantime as the equipment was now all cleared away. It had taken several days to recover the bodies and car due to the extreme slope and continued bad weather. Steve wouldn't have bothered to read the report, but the tourists were from New Jersey and he wanted to be sure that Danny wouldn't have known them. He knew it was irrational. He was just trying to be extra protective of his partner, but now he knew the exact fate that he and Gracie were about to face.

"Gracie, hold on, and remember that Danno loves you, okay?!" Steve shouted over the noise of metal scraping metal, engines revving and the Silverado's brakes squealing as he tried to stop what was about to happen. He couldn't see whether she had managed to complete the call to Chin or not, but he couldn't be bothered to care anymore as he held on to the steering wheel and time seemed to slow down when they reached the end of the structurally sound guardrail.

There was a heart-stopping moment of silence before the truck crashed down on the steep embankment and rolled over onto the passenger side, the side that Grace sat on, Steve thought, before continuing onto the roof and over again. The Silverado rolled three more times before it hit the dense undergrowth and the cabin wrapped around the first tree it came in contact with, crushing the front passenger seat into nothing.

Steve never completely lost consciousness, but was dazed as he coughed and tried to focus on the destruction around him. They were right side up, if a bit off-balance while the metal creaked and groaned and steam issued from underneath the crumpled hood with a hiss. He blinked sluggishly while he listened to the birds shriek and abandon their perches with the invasion of the large blue monstrosity.

He blinked again and began to take stock of the situation as his ears continued to ring in stark contrast to the sudden silence. He tried to shift in his seat but his legs refused to cooperate. When he looked down to study the situation he lost sight of his legs at mid-thigh, disappearing beneath the steering wheel, deflated airbag and the mangled remains of the dash. His left shoulder was sore, probably from coming in contact with the side of the vehicle as it had rolled down the embankment. He began turning his neck to the right, intending to check on Grace when a sharp pain from his shoulder stopped him. Okay, a broken collarbone then. He had to check Grace though, pain be damned. He was terrified that he hadn't heard a single sound from her yet.

Bracing his left arm across his chest with his right he began to slowly turn his head to look over his shoulder into the back seat. He saw her little legs with her colorful socks leading up to her khaki uniform skirt. "Gracie?" he tried, not expecting an answer. His breath hitched as his shoulder gave a twinge, but he closed his eyes to block it out and opened them again, focusing on Grace's chest since he couldn't see her face. "Grace?" he tried again, louder this time.

Nothing.

He didn't dare inhale for the few moments it took to see a definite movement of her steady breathing. He closed his eyes in relief and turned forward again, wincing at the pain of the movement. He leaned his head against the surprisingly intact headrest and just breathed deeply for a few moments. Deep breaths were in short supply however, when his ribs protested the excessive movement where the seat belt crossed his chest.

They were both alive. But what the hell was going on? One moment Grace was conspiring to take care of her dad, which should have been Steve's job, and the next they were rolling down a cliff hoping to survive.

Who the hell were these people and what did they want? Revenge for Wo Fat? Yeah, he had killed the bastard, but surely no one cared enough to hunt down Steve and take revenge on him. That had been Wo Fat's personal vendetta, and he'd been in a maximum security prison for over a year.

As Steve continued to revel in the pleasure of breathing while his mind mulled over the situation, he became aware of distant voices. He braced his arm again and looked up the embankment. He could just make out the dark SUV parked at the gap in the guardrail.

Of course they wouldn't give up. They, whoever they were, had run his truck off the road. They obviously wanted him for something, or perhaps just wanted him dead and needed to ensure that the job was complete. As he kept watching, the men, people, hell maybe they were all women, seemed frustrated with their inability to get down to the Silverado.

Steve knew he had some time, but he also knew that he had to get Gracie to safety and make sure that she was actually alright. He still hadn't heard a sound from the back seat and tried to stop himself from thinking of the ramifications of her silence. With a somewhat painful shrug he managed to get his cellphone out of his right pocket. The screen was cracked in a spider web with several chunks of glass missing. It still lit up when he pressed the volume button on the side, but he had no control over the system without access to the touchscreen. How did Chin ever convince him to start using a phone without actual buttons? For once he was jealous of Danny's inability to accept new technology into his life.

He had no choice but to get out of the car and go for help. He put his phone back in his pocket and pulled his knife out of his lower cargo pocket. Danny may make fun of his cargo pants, but at times like these he was thankful he hadn't changed too much and given in to the teasing. He cut away the airbag and shoved it out the broken driver's side window and finally got a better look at his trapped legs. He wiggled his toes and rotated his ankles a bit with a minimum of pain.

With some pressure and frustrated grunting he was able to push and pull his left leg out from under the wheel. With a growl he tried the same with his right leg but it wouldn't budge.

He looked back to check on Grace again and noted that she hadn't moved at all. He turned his head to the left to check on the progress of their attackers and was dismayed to see that a rope had been acquired and they were sending their first man down the steep slope. He needed more room to move to get his leg free. Steve reached over his body and tried to open the door but it was too crumpled and damaged and he quickly gave up any hope of forcing it open. With a sudden thought he grabbed the lever to recline the seat and was surprised when he was lying flat a moment later.

He groaned as his broken collarbone throbbed, but used his new position to check on Grace. Her head was resting against the window which was cracked and splintering outward. There was blood dripping down the window to gather at the seal, but she was still breathing steadily. He had to get her out of this and back to her Danno.

He sat up, now with more room to work and once again attacked his trapped leg. Seeing that none of the metal or parts were going to shift no matter the amount of force he used, he dug his knife into the upholstery in between his legs. He began frantically shredding and then pulling out the padding as the voices of his attackers became louder and closer. His plan worked as he was able to wiggle his leg a bit. He started to pull it back towards him.

"Ahh!" he cried out as he felt something slice into his shin. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to breathe through the sudden pain. When he opened his eyes he looked outside and saw that one man had made it down at least half of the embankment to the truck and another was beginning his decent. Steve was running out of time to get Grace to safety.

There was nothing for it. He gave an almighty heave and pulled his right leg mostly free of its prison. Whatever sharp metal was slicing up his shin dug in deeper until it was stopped by his boot. He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose as he suffered the voluntary, albeit necessary, injury. Without sparing another thought he maneuvered his foot free from under the wreckage and got his first look at the damage he did to his own leg.

His pants leg was sliced open from the bottom of the knee to the top of his boot and the khaki color was quickly turning bright red with fresh blood. He tested his ankle again and it moved to his satisfaction although with significantly more pain than before.

Steve shimmied out from under the life-saving seat belt and pulled himself over to Grace with his good arm. He pressed two fingers into her neck and waited for the pulse which was fast and weaker than he had hoped it would be. He spared a quick glance behind him to see that the first man was waiting at the bottom of the rope and his buddy had almost reached him. It seemed that the other two were waiting at the top. There was not much time left.

Using his knife, Steve cut through Grace's seat belt and started checking her shoulders and neck for obvious injuries. He could detect no sign of trauma and blew out a relieved breath because he knew he had to move her in order to save her.

Now to get out of the wrecked truck. Their best option seemed to be the back driver's side door. Steve scooted over to it, now lamenting his reclined front seat and had to twist awkwardly to get his right arm the proper leverage. The handle pulled and the latch popped open with a distinctive click, but the door only moved an inch. Frustrated and running out of time, Steve leaned back and started kicking frantically at the door. The crumpled metal began bending out inch by inch until finally it swung outward.

Steve leaned back on Grace with a relieved exhale, but in the next moment was sitting up and clutching at his slashed shin in pain. He soon turned around and put his arm around Grace as if he were comforting her, but grabbed tightly to her right arm and began working them both across the back seat to the open door. Steve tried not to use his left arm, but it was next to impossible and he grunted in pain as they made their slow progress out of the destroyed vehicle.

Once Steve was clear, he spared another glance at their pursuers and moved more frantically as he watched the second man reach the end of the rope. He crouched down and used his right arm to maneuver Grace into a fireman's carry. Thankful that she didn't mimic her father's eating habits, he was able to balance her light frame across his shoulders and stand up without too much pain as long as he didn't use his left arm. Reaching across his body he grabbed her dangling right arm with his own and trapped her right leg against his chest.

He didn't have a spare second at he watched the two men turn and start toward the wreckage of his Silverado. Steve started a brisk pace deeper into the foliage, away from the road and help, but away from the men who probably wanted him dead.

…..

Steve had been walking for barely a minute when he felt himself slowing down. He had only just started his latest recovery which included a mild concussion and numerous drugs. He was not physically ready for another incident like this. Grace's steady breathing continued next to his left ear and he felt her small chest expanding against his back. The blood from her head wound where she had impacted the window was slowly soaking the sleeve of his shirt.

He heard indiscriminate shouting behind them and knew that their survival and escape had now been discovered. This gave him renewed energy for another minute or so before he felt himself flagging again.

Steve started to think that he wasn't going to escape this time. Perhaps his luck had finally run out. He had only just survived Wo Fat for the final time and lamented that the world was out to get him and that Grace had to be collateral damage.

No, he couldn't, _wouldn't_, allow Grace to be killed or captured because of him. He was holding his partner's entire reason for being on his shoulders and Steve couldn't be responsible for her coming to any further harm.

He heard more shouting from the wreckage and knew that his time was up. He was leaving an easy trail of blood from his leg and couldn't move very fast with Grace resting on his broken collarbone. He didn't have the energy to run if he had wanted to.

He looked around him for a solution as his eyes fell on a huge banyan tree not ten feet to his left. If he hid Grace well enough in the root system she might not be found while he led their pursuers on a game of cat and mouse.

Steve moved quickly over to the root system on the opposite side of the tree. He eased Grace off his shoulders and bit back a cry of pain as he had to use his left arm to help lower her gently to the ground between two large, winding roots. He hated to do it, but he kicked some dirt on top of her to make her bright socks and blue polo less noticeable. Once he was convinced that she wouldn't be immediately spotted he pulled his broken phone out of his pocket and laid it on the ground next to her. It couldn't be used to call for help, but if it still had power maybe it was still traceable.

He spared a last quick glance at Grace and his heart filled with regret that he had to leave her lying there, alone and injured in the middle of the forest. He was filled with self-loathing that this was happening because of him. But now he had a mission to complete, perhaps the most important one of his life. He quickly returned to his original path, covering any easily identifiable blood spots and started to lead the pursuers away from the little girl he had sworn to protect.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note:** I know I told some of you that I would likely have this chapter up by the New Year. Obviously that didn't happen, and I'm sorry. I was hanging out with Aristotle and trying to finish a paper on the Nicomachean Ethics. Unfortunately for all of you, I figured I should focus on being able to finish graduate school rather than writing this.

Thank you so unbelievably much for all of the reviews, favorites and follows! They all made my day and made a depressing holiday season so much better! All mistakes are my own.

**Disclaimer: **Hawaii Five-0 is the property of CBS. No infringement is intended and no monetary gain will ever be had.

CHAPTER 2

Detective Danny Williams saw the look on the uni's face when he walked into the courtroom and wondered what tragedy had occurred to turn the man's face so sour. The HPD officer strode confidently to the bailiff despite his troubled look and whispered in the man's ear. Danny shifted uncomfortably in his seat and wondered what could possibly be important enough to interrupt court proceedings.

Not that he minded. He'd been sitting on this hard bench for over seven hours today, waiting for his turn at the stand. While Steve was recovering from his gunshot wound after the weaponized drone incident there had been a suspicious lack of cases for Five-0. So he, Lou, Chin and Kono had ended up helping out at an HPD takedown. Danny drew the short straw to represent the task force in court. It was a cut and dry case and the prosecution had the perp dead to rights, but the conviction was only airtight after 4 years of investigations and evidence. That meant there were plenty of hours of mundane court proceedings to sit through.

The bored detective looked down at his watch for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon. Grace had been out of school for almost two hours now. He wondered what she and Amber were doing. He let his mind drift back to the recess for lunch and his phone call to his girlfriend when he realized he wouldn't be able to pick up his daughter from school.

"_Hey, Jersey," answered the sultry voice at the other end of the line. _

"_Hey, babe. How are you?" Danny asked his girlfriend. _

"_I'm good. Slow day at work. Are you done in court? Do you want to grab a quick lunch?" Amber asked. Danny could hear the eagerness in her voice. _

"_Can't, sorry. We're on recess. I'll be going back in just a bit," Danny explained. He hated to disappoint her right before asking for a favor. "Would you mind picking up Grace when school gets out? I know you have work, and I would normally pester Steve, but-" _

"_Sure, it's no problem," she cut him off. "I'd love to hang with Grace for a few hours." _

_Danny sighed with relief that he wouldn't have to bother his recovering partner. The poor guy hadn't been sleeping very well since the incident with Wo Fat and they'd agreed to wait another week before Steve would try sleeping pills. _

"_Danny?" Amber's voice seemed far away. _

"_Huh?" Danny shook himself out of his thoughts. "What?" he asked stupidly._

"_I asked if school gets out at the same time. Three o'clock, right?" Amber sounded concerned._

"_Yeah. Yeah, still the same time. Hey, I've got to go, but I'll see you back at my place when they set me free?" asked Danny, wanting to end the call after it was obvious that he wasn't paying any attention to his girlfriend. _

"_Sure thing, Jersey. See you later," confirmed Amber before Danny ended the call. He wished he had time to go out to lunch with Amber, but the recess wasn't that long and she worked on what may as well be the other side of the island given the traffic at this time. He really hadn't seen her much since the incident with Wo Fat, but he had tried to explain things to her in a way that wouldn't violate Steve's privacy. Come to think of it, he really hadn't seen much of his girlfriend since before everything started, and ended, with Matty. And before that it was rescuing Steve from Afghanistan. Then there was the parking garage collapse and he had barely started seeing Amber at that point. _

_It seemed like extra drama might actually be the norm for their relationship, and the fact that Amber had stuck with him through all of that…well, that had to be a good sign. He turned off his cell phone and pocketed it as he heard the call to reenter the court room and walked through the doors with a little smile on his face. _

A small smile appeared on his face again as he thought about how lucky he was that Amber had stuck with him through everything so far.

"Detective Williams?" the judge asked, sounding exasperating.

Danny sat up straight in his seat and felt like he was back in primary school. "Yes, your honor?" he questioned. He glanced around quickly to see that everyone was staring right at him.

"You are hereby excused from these proceedings and need to leave with Officer Hartnet immediately," she stated succinctly.

The judge continued speaking but Danny wasn't listening as he stood up as if on autopilot and walked toward the uniform waiting by the doors. His first thoughts were of Steve. What kind of trouble had he gotten into this time? Had he barricaded himself in his house in the midst of a fevered hallucination that only "Danno" could penetrate? Had he injured himself in the middle of a violent nightmare and Danny was about to be escorted to the hospital to calm him down so restraints wouldn't be necessary?

The detective's mind continued to mull over all the possibilities, all concerning his recovering partner, as he approached the young officer at the end of the courtroom. Danny didn't recognize the face that was practically dripping with nervousness and fear. The doors thumping closed behind them snapped Danny out of his daze and he immediately rounded on the young man.

"You need to tell me what the hell is going on. Right now!" commanded Danny, his arms waving to halt his escort as he turned to face the uniform.

"Sir, we need to keep moving. I'll explain on the way to the scene," the officer stated nervously, obviously flustered by the antics of the high-strung detective.

"Scene? What scene? What did my Neanderthal partner get himself into this time?" Danny ranted.

"Commander McGarrett's truck was involved in an accident this afternoon," was the officer's response as he continued to try to walk forward, hoping to entice the excitable detective into following him.

"Truck! His truck? He wasn't supposed to be driving anywhere. Oh for the love of – Hang on. I've got to call my girlfriend and let her know I'll be at the hospital. How bad is it?" Danny asked with a mixture of concern and anger that seemed very odd to the unfamiliar officer. The detective had stopped walking to fish his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Ms. Vitale is on her way to the scene. We need to get moving," the younger man implored, turning to walk forward again.

"What? No. She's supposed to be at home with my daughter. What-"

"Detective Williams," the officer interrupted. He finally stopped his attempt at forward motion and turned to face Danny directly. "We believe that your daughter was in the vehicle with Commander McGarrett."

…..

**1 Hour Earlier**

Steve didn't know how long he had been running. Jogging, really. Well, stumbling if he were completely honest. He was trying to make his trail as obvious as possible and was not concerned about making too much noise. He had to keep reminding himself that he actually _wanted_ his pursuers to know where he was, in order to keep Grace safe. But it was hard to ignore years of training.

He was jarred out of his thoughts when he stumbled again, his foot caught in a protruding root. Pain exploded from his shoulder and chest when he hit the ground hard, hands reaching out to catch himself. He cried out and curled into himself, holding his left arm close to his body and waiting for the sharp, stabbing pains to subside before he could even think about getting up.

As he lay there on the ground, he could hear his pursuers coming closer. They had obviously heard his cry of pain and now knew right where he was. Steve knew he had to evade as long as possible, because as long as they were chasing him, they weren't going to find Gracie.

Growling as he pushed himself up from the ground with his right arm, he swayed for a moment and began to lurch forward again. As he looked around, he didn't see any obvious direction to head in and continued his stumbling gait in the only direction he considered important. Away from Grace.

…**..**

Amber Vitale was frustrated and angry after the visit to her lawyer's office. Her ex-husband was causing trouble again and her attorney was recommending some changes to the restraining order. She had divorced the man, she didn't want to deal with him anymore!

She gripped the steering wheel tighter and forced herself to breathe deeply and calm down. She wouldn't let Grace see her this upset, because Grace would tell her father and she hadn't found the right time to talk to Danny about her ex-husband yet. She knew it wasn't really fair to withhold that information, but Danny's job hadn't been very fair recently either. There just never seemed like a good time in between disasters.

Amber felt significantly calmer as she turned onto Piikoi Street. She wondered what Grace and Steve had been up to for the last two hours. As she approached the house she was surprised that she couldn't see the big blue Silverado out front. Thinking that they had probably headed to a beach or out to an early dinner, she parked her car where the Silverado should have been and pulled out her phone to call Steve.

Twenty seconds later and there was no answer.

"Hey, Steve. It's Amber. I just pulled up to your house and your truck isn't here. Call me back when you get this message and let me know where you guys are. Thanks," she said, hoping that her phone would start ringing in her hand to put her mind at ease. She stared at it for another moment and then got out of her car to see if maybe the troublesome pair had left her a note.

As she hurried up the front walk she idly wondered how the commander had time to take care of all these plants in the garden. No note or sign of any kind greeted her at the front door, and it was securely locked. Amber walked around back, not knowing what she was hoping to find and becoming more concerned by the minute.

The back yard was devoid of any life as well, the chairs remaining empty down by the beach and the lanai doors were locked as well.

She hated to worry him, but she pulled out her phone to call Danny as she headed back to her car, intending to drive to his place. When he didn't answer she didn't bother to leave a message, assuming that he was still sitting in a court room.

It took ten minutes for her to arrive at Danny's house. Ten minutes to think of myriad scenarios that could explain the absence and lack of communication of one of the most trustworthy men on the island. She thought back to their brief conversation a few hours ago and was sure that Steve said to meet at his house.

As she pulled onto Danny's drive and still saw no sign of the Silverado she began scrolling through the contacts on her phone, hoping that she wasn't overreacting. She pressed Chin Ho Kelly's name with a shaking finger and hoped that he would pick up.

"Hello?" said the now familiar voice in her ear.

"Hi, Chin. It's Amber. Hey, you haven't seen Steve today have you?" she asked trying to keep the fear out of her voice.

"No, I haven't. He's supposed to be at home anyway. Why? What's wrong?" Chin asked, picking up on the uncertainty in Amber's voice. She had never called him before, so he immediately assumed that something was up.

"I don't want to worry you, but Steve was supposed to pick up Grace from school and I was supposed to meet them at Steve's house by now, but no one is there," Amber related, starting to sound a little frantic. "I'm at Danny's place now and they aren't here either."

"Okay, calm down, Amber. I'm sure they're fine. Steve's probably just letting off a little steam after being cooped up all week. Did you try Kamekona's?" he questioned. Despite his reassuring words, Chin was starting to worry about the odd situation as well. It was unlike Steve not to keep in touch, unheard of when Grace was involved.

"No, no I didn't think of that," Amber said, feeling disappointed that she hadn't considered it.

"No worries. I'll give the big guy a call and have Kono trace McGarrett's truck in the meantime. Why don't you head over here to HQ so we can all be together when we give Steve a talking to, huh?" directed Chin.

"Yeah, I'll do that. Thank you, Chin. I just didn't know what else to do," Amber sounded relieved that the situation was being dealt with.

"Okay, we'll see you soon," Chin said before he hung up. Amber really hoped that they figured this out before Danny got out of court, if he wasn't already. The last thing she wanted to tell him was that she had lost his daughter. She backed her car out of Danny's drive and headed toward Iolani Palace, all thoughts of her ex-husband forgotten.

…..

Spanish. They were speaking Spanish, Steve noted as his pursuers closed in.

He had hardly made it ten more minutes after his stumble and he began to prepare himself, knowing that his capture was inevitable. There were only two men, but he had no idea who they were or how well-trained they would be, although he was quickly getting an idea.

Spanish. Why had he never bothered to learn Spanish?

In his exhausted state and with one working arm he doubted he could defeat his pursuers. But that would never stop him from trying. He picked a tree just off his path and let out a grateful sigh as he leaned against it, allowing himself a final break before the struggle he knew was coming.

Chinese. Korean. Pidgin. Not Spanish.

Unfocused, his pursuers were almost on top of him before he could formulate a solid plan of attack. They were moving with some skill and very little noise as they approached Steve's hiding spot. Well-trained then. He probably wasn't getting out of this. He bent down to pick up a fallen branch that looked sturdy enough to serve his purpose, grimacing as he did so with his ribs protesting the hunched movement.

Ten seconds was all the time he had left. He could count to ten in Spanish. Everybody could count to ten in Spanish. _Uno, dos, tres…_

The footsteps stuttered and halted in their pursuit as the trail they had been following suddenly stopped.

…_cuatro, cinco, seis…_

Muttering that Steve couldn't understand, and then he thought that they split up to look for him but he couldn't be sure.

…_siete, ocho, um…nine…whatever. No more time. _

Steve tightened his grip on the branch as a twig cracked on the other side of his hiding place. He held his breath and waited until he could pinpoint the location of his attacker. Just as he thought the man was coming around his side of the tree he swung back and let loose with his branch.

Too low. The man was taller than he'd expected. The branch hit him across the chest instead of in the head and he quickly recovered. A shout. Calling for backup. Defense now. The branch was ripped from his hands but Steve followed up with a jab at the man's face before he could recover. A cry of pain. A fist aimed at his ribs. Deflect. A hit to his face that he couldn't block because he only had one arm.

Steve stumbled back and tried to focus as he saw stars. Before he could regain his footing all the air was forced from his lungs as his attacker punched him in his weakened ribs. He fell to the ground struggling for air, holding himself up on his right arm, his left now pressed against his ribs.

A kick to the face and now he was lying on the ground. Two sets of feet. More Spanish. Two sets of hands on his arms, hauling him up. Bones moving, sharp edges grating against each other. A cry of pain for his broken collarbone. Nausea. Another shout as he lost his breakfast on the feet of one of his attackers.

The man let go of his right arm, trying to avoid the stream of vomit. The man holding Steve's left arm didn't let go and as his body sagged and his injured side took all of his weight he finally succumbed to the pain of his injuries.

…..

"Anything, Cuz?" Chin asked as he walked out of his office after getting off the phone with Kamekona.

"His truck is offline. I can't trace it." Kono looked up from the computer console mirroring her cousin's concerned look. "Kamekona?" she asked.

"Hasn't seen him," Chin answered curtly. "Why would his truck be offline?" he wondered aloud.

"No clue, but it can't be good," Kono answered the rehetorical question. "I'm going to start a trace on their phones. It should be up in a minute." Chin's worried thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of Lou Grover finishing his conversation with Grace's school.

"Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. Bye now," Lou said as he stepped up to the console. "They're going to compile their security footage and send it over as soon as possible. Anything on your end?" he asked Chin, who responded with a frustrated shake of his head. "Well, they didn't just up and disappear. What did Amber say to you again?" Lou was the most flustered of the three of them, having just recently dealt with his own daughters kidnapping. He was on high alert.

"She said that Steve was supposed to pick up Grace from school today and then she was going to meet them at Steve's house, but the truck wasn't in the drive and no one was there. Then she checked Danny's house and no one was there either, so she called me," Chin retold the story they had all gone over a few times already.

"I know Danny's been in court all day dealing with the Barrett case, but why was Steve the one picking up Grace?" Kono asked what was on all their minds.

"I have no idea, we'll just have to wait until Amber gets here to tell us the full story. Anything on either one of their phones?"

"It's a computer program, Cuz, not a magical fairy," Kono snarked without any real heart behind it. They were all worried and wondering what the hell was going on. Just then the computer beeped its success at tracking both cell phones.

Kono scrambled to pull up the information and zoomed in on the map. "They're close to each other, but not together. Weird. Off of Waahila Ridge Road. That's not near Grace's school or the boss's house."

"Cuz, can you-" Chin started.

Go," she commanded. "I'll forward the tracking information to your phone and wait here for Amber."

"Thanks, Cuz," Chin practically shouted as he and Lou were almost out the door already.

…..

Bouncing. Spanish. Pain.

Steve opened his eyes and realized he was being carried, draped over someone's back. More Spanish. Slowing down. Shouting. He closed his eyes and grimaced. That kick to the face certainly hadn't helped his growing headache. And this ride on someone's shoulders wasn't helping the pain his ribs either.

It was almost dark out now. Dusk was settling in and Steve couldn't tell where they were or where they were going. He could only hope that these men weren't searching for Grace now. He was too weak and exhausted to try anything to stop them.

The man carrying him slowed and turned around, and Steve caught sight of a rope. His heart simultaneously soared and plummeted. They were back at the start. But not looking for Grace. She was safe. But he certainly wasn't. Then movement. Falling.

Steve cried out through gritted teeth as he was dropped to the ground. He tried rolling to his right side so as not to lie on his injured collarbone, but he received a swift kick to the ribs for his trouble. He ended up curling up on his right side anyway, trying to get his breath back. Mission accomplished. Sort of.

More Spanish. He didn't envy these grunts trying to get him up this steep slope, but he quickly realized their plan as he was held down by one man while the other was trying to wrap the rope around his feet.

Oh hell no.

He kicked out blindly and was rewarded with a cry of pain. His swung his right arm wildly and connected with something solid. The struggle was uncoordinated and ultimately futile as he briefly saw the foot aiming for his head before he lost consciousness.

Luckily he wasn't awake for the less-than-pleasant trip back up to the road. Feet first, arms dangling, he was dragged upward inch by inch while his attackers climbed up quickly beside him, obviously having decided they didn't have time to wait for use of the rope. Once at the top, the attackers and one other man wrestled him into the SUV while the fourth kept a lookout for any vehicles. The vehicle pulled away from the scene seconds before another SUV came around the corner behind them, oblivious to their activities.

…..

"Okay, slow down. Tracking shows that they're around here somewhere," Chin dictated from the passenger seat, staring intently at his phone.

Lou obeyed and reduced his speed, not caring about pissing off any other drivers on the road. It was getting late and no one was around anyway besides another SUV that was speeding along happily ahead of them. "Wasn't this where that bad accident was a few weeks back?" he asked as he scanned the area.

"Yeah. That's just up ahead. I don't think they've fixed up the guardrail yet," Chin distractedly replied. "Pull over somewhere along here, brah. I don't see the truck and their phones indicate they're not on the road."

The SUV came to a stop just before the break in the guardrail. Chin finally looked up from his phone and glanced around. It was nearing dusk and they had no idea what had happened to Steve and Grace. He had no idea what kind of clue he was looking for, but he stared confusedly at a rope tied around the guardrail as he climbed out of the SUV. "Lou, over here," he called and waited for his friend to come around the vehicle.

"What the hell is that doing here? Did the recovery crews leave it?" Lou asked, looking for any other remnants of the recovery operation. There was no other obvious evidence that this had recently been the scene of an accident besides the broken guardrail a few yards away.

"Wait a second, there's blue paint here, Lou!" Chin exclaimed. He trailed his fingers along a blue streak that Lou hadn't noticed at first. "It's got to be from Steve's truck."

Both men shared a worried glance and began to search the trees below them, hoping that they wouldn't find what they were looking for. With the light rapidly fading, the truck was hard to see at first. It was mangled practically beyond recognition and hardly blue anymore with all of the scrapes, mud and damage it had sustained.

"Steve!"

"McGarrett!"

"Grace! Gracie are you there?"

"STEVE!"

There was no answer to their calls and no movement down below.

"I'm going down there," Chin stated with no room for argument. "You call HPD and let Kono know what we've found." He hopped over the guardrail and grabbed the rope, thankful that it had been left there.

"Sure thing. Be careful," Lou said as he pulled out his phone with nervous fingers and watched his teammate begin the slow decent down to the destroyed truck.

…..

The first thing Chin thought when he was finally standing next to the truck was how anyone could possibly walk away from this. The hood was crumpled up a bit but steam was no longer rising from beneath it. The Silverado was scraped and scratched and dented beyond belief. The cabin had sustained the most obvious damage, with the windshield broken out, all the windows cracked or damaged some way, and half curled around the tree that had finally stopped the truck's decent. The truck bed hadn't survived the obvious rolling as well as the cabin. It was flattened and crunched and barely there. The back door was swinging open on its hinges and Chin steeled himself as he approached to look inside.

Blood. There was a lot of blood on the opposite window with a spider web of cracks in the middle. No bodies, he noted with a relieved sigh but increasing confusion. The driver's seat was reclined until it hit the bench seat in the back, and there was more blood on the seat, a trail leading to the back. He wondered where Steve and Grace could be, but was glad that he didn't find them here. He didn't dwell on the possibilities any longer as he crouched down to look under the seat at the truck's tracking device. It wasn't broken.

It had been disconnected.

Chin started to worry more about the state of his friends and the implications of his discovery. He put a hand on his sidearm and took a closer look around him as he pulled out his phone to call Lou.

"They're not here," was the first thing he said. "And the tracking device has been manually disconnected."

"What the hell? HPD is on their way with a bus and recovery equipment. What else do you see?" Lou asked, just barely able to make out the form of Chin down below. Darkness had almost completely set in now.

"The truck is completely wrecked. And there's blood," Chin related, and paused. "It looks like they were both in here, and both injured." He began walking around the other side of the truck, following drops of blood. "I think they left on their own. I've found a trail."

"Okay, Chin. I know you want to go after them, but it's getting dark and you don't even have a flashlight. We don't know who or what could be out there. You have to wait for HPD to get here. Please," implored Lou, concerned that his friend would take after their leader and throw caution to the wind.

"Yeah, Lou, I know," Chin sighed. "Dammit. We're going to have to let Danny know. And Rachel. I'm going to keep looking around. Don't worry, I won't go far."

"I'll give Kono an update and start trying to get ahold of Danny." Lou hung up and immediately dialed Kono, not liking the news he had for her, but glad that it wasn't of a different and more depressing nature.

…..

"Thanks, Lou. Yeah. Amber just got here, I gotta go," Kono said as stepped forward to give the distraught woman a hug.

"Have you found them? Where is everybody?" Amber asked as she pulled away, looking around.

"Amber, we found Steve's truck."

"Were they there? Are they alright?" she asked, becoming flustered and worried all over again.

"We don't know. They weren't inside," Kono said carefully, hoping that she wouldn't have a hysterical woman on her hands soon.

"What?! What's going on? Where are they?" Amber was quickly becoming more agitated and working her way up to hysteria that Kono desperately wanted to avoid. "This is all my fault. I was supposed to pick up Grace today. What are we going to tell Danny? Does Danny know yet?"

"Amber, calm down. This is not your fault, okay? We're going to find out what happened. Danny is being notified and pulled from court as we speak."

"What are we going to do? I can't just sit here!" Amber started to look lost as Kono quickly pulled up a chair and gently pushed her into it.

Kono thought about her statement and didn't see any harm. "Well, there's nothing we can do here but wait. Danny is going to be escorted to the scene as soon as they get ahold of him. We can go out there as well, but you'll have to stay out of the way. Danny might need you there," Kono finally decided.

"Okay. Okay, yeah." Amber still looked lost and a little dazed. Kono grabbed a water bottle on the way out the door and put it in Amber's hands. The school wouldn't get them the security footage for at least another few hours, so there really wasn't any reason for her to stick around here. She guided Amber out to her car and sped away to the accident scene, trying to stay calm for the sake of the woman beside her.

…..

Chin was having a hard time standing around and waiting for all the men and equipment to descend the steep slope. He paced around the truck and kept focusing on the blood on the rear window of the truck. He could handle Steve being injured. It had happened often enough, but this was so soon after his final run in with Wo Fat that Chin immediately regretted the thought. But little Grace was another matter. Chin knew that any one of the team would do anything to protect Danny's little girl, and the fact that she was injured and now lost was making him very agitated.

Once he'd found the disconnected tracking device for the truck, Chin knew that this was a crime scene and they needed to gather any and all information that might help them find out what happened. According to the tracking information, Grace's phone was still in the truck, but he'd had to wait for the crime scene unit to get confirmation. Steve's phone was not that far away and hadn't moved since Kono had first traced the phones. It had taken all of his self-control not to go charging into the jungle alone.

"Lt. Kelly," an officer called him over to their group, "we're ready to head out."

"Okay, the trail leads over this way and so does the phone signal," he called without waiting another second to start the search. They had wasted enough time and there was no sign of any danger in the immediate area. The group of HPD officers led by Chin headed in the direction of the blood they could see on the ground, illuminated by their flashlights. A small group of EMTs stayed behind with the crime scene unit who were busy cataloguing the evidence in the truck.

Chin kept following the trail while holding out his cell phone to make sure that they were still heading in the direction of Steve's phone. It took barely five minutes until they were almost on top of it. "Steve! Grace!" Chin shouted, hoping desperately for an answer.

"Lt. Kelly, the trail leads over here, sir," a nervous HPD officer called out as Chin started drifting to the left, following his phone.

"The phone signal is coming for somewhere over here," he replied distractedly. "Steve! Grace!" he called out again. He looked up and saw no sign of them. But the trace indicated that Steve's phone was close by. "Gracie! Can you hear me? Steve!"

Chin was walking by a large banyan tree when something in the beam of his flashlight caught his eye. "Over here!" he called frantically as he ran forward, kneeling next to Grace who had been hidden between some large roots. "Go back and get the EMTs," he ordered the closest HPD officer. They knew that the area was secure up until this point. Once he knew his order was being followed, Chin only had eyes for Grace.

"Grace? Gracie, can you hear me?" Chin reached forward, dreading this moment, but settled his fingers on her neck to check for a pulse. She was so still and pale. He almost cried in relief at the beat underneath his fingers. "Grace, c'mon honey, it's Uncle Chin. Wake up." Looking at the cut on her head and the dried blood on her face he figured his efforts to wake her were futile, but wanted to comfort her anyway. As he settled down next to her to wait for the EMTs, something else caught his eye and he reached over and picked up Steve's broken cell phone.

…..

"Where is she?! Where is my daughter?!" Lou heard him long before he saw him. Unlike everyone else who stood still and seemed to shrink in hopes that they weren't noticed or called on, Lou turned and headed toward the hurricane of worry caused by the distraught father.

"Danny! Danny, over here," he called and saw the detective turn in acknowledgement.

"Lou, what the hell is going on? What have you found? Where is Grace!?" Danny asked in a hurry. As Lou started to answer he saw Amber coming over to them as well.

"They just found her Danny. She's alive, but she's hurt pretty bad. They're getting ready to bring her up now," he explained, hoping to ease some of the detective's worry. Just then Amber arrived and Danny did not have quite the reaction that Lou had expected.

"What the hell did you do!? I told you not to bother him! What were you doing that was so important that you wouldn't tell me that you couldn't pick up my daughter!? You lied to me!"

"Danny, just let me explain-"

"Danny, calm down," Lou commanded in a booming voice. "This isn't helping anyone. Something came up and Amber called Steve to get Grace. She couldn't let you know because you were in court. We don't know what's going on yet, but we've found your daughter and she's going to be fine. Okay?"

With a frustrated huff and a deep breath, Danny calmed down as he listened to Lou's explanation. "What about Steve, where is he?" he asked accusingly.

"We don't know. Chin and HPD are still down there looking. They're following a trail, but it's hard in the dark," Lou related calmly, as if talking to a spooked animal.

Amber tried to grab his hand, but Danny pulled away and stalked over to the men by the rail and asked for an update on their progress. Lou looked at her sympathetically and followed Danny over to the rail. "It's not her fault, Danny. I know you're worried. Believe me, I know what it's like, but you can't blame her." Lou looked down at the smaller man and saw him about to open his mouth. "And you can't blame Steve either. We will find out what happened, but right now, Grace is going to need her father. That's what you need to focus on while we find Steve."

"I know, Lou. I know. I'm sorry. I just…" Danny didn't finish his sentence, and he didn't have to. The two men waited in silence while the rescue crew prepared to retrieve Grace. After some coaxing from Kono, Amber joined them and Danny didn't pull away this time when she slipped her hand into his. He was uncharacteristically silent and still, understandably so. The four of them waited in a tense silence, unable to do anything to help without being in the way.

…..

Chin and the team of HPD officers were still searching for the missing leader of Five-0. They had come across the scene of a scuffle a little while ago and found a bloody branch that was likely used as a weapon, as well as a pile of vomit that was probably Steve's. They were no longer following a trail of blood but a trail of deep footprints which indicated that someone, again, probably Steve, had been carried away.

They were circling back to the road and Chin was beginning to get a bad feeling. They could hear the shouts of the rescue crew up ahead and see all the lights and commotion. He heard the ambulance turn on its sirens and saw its lights flashing as it drove away and knew that Grace was now on her way to the hospital, hopefully with her father beside her. Chin's fears were soon realized when the tracks they were following aimed directly towards the road and the rope that Chin had used to get down. The small group couldn't track them any further as the area had been sufficiently trampled by all the men and crews at work, but the direct path left only one obvious conclusion; Steve had been taken.

…..

TBC

Thanks for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

**Spoilers/Warnings: **This chapter gets pretty intense in some places, could maybe be considered an M-rating for some sections. B-I-G spoiler for 4.19 in this chapter, but I really hope you have all seen that episode by now because it was fantastic. Also a spoiler for events in 4.12, when Danny first meets Amber. Some more swearing in this one, because these guys are adults…very, _very_ distraught adults. Mentions of PTSD as well. More notes at the end, but I won't get in your way here.

Many thanks to all of you who have taken time to review. I appreciate your kind comments and absolutely LOVE hearing all of your theories. All mistakes are my own. Onward!

Halfway CHAPTER 3

Danny Williams paced the waiting room endlessly. Amber had arrived to wait with him nearly an hour ago when Kono dropped her off on the way back to HQ. She and Danny hadn't yet spoken a word to each other and Amber couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"I'm sorry, Danny." He abruptly stopped pacing and turned to face her. "Maybe if I had gone to pick up Grace like I said I would, then none of this would have happened."

"No. No don't start that, please," Danny said as he finally sat down next to her on the hard plastic chair and put his head in his hands. "Grover was right. It's not your fault. And it probably isn't Steve's either. We don't even know what's going on yet. But why, Amber? Why didn't you just tell me that you couldn't pick her up? Why did you lie to me?" Danny lifted his head and sadly locked eyes with her. There was so much pain and sadness in his gaze - and betrayal, Amber was dismayed to see.

"Danny, that's not what happened. I swear," Amber defended. She was trying to figure out how best to broach the topic of her ex when Danny's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Amber, is something else going on? What is it?" asked Danny, his tone changing from accusatory to concern.

Amber looked over at him, completely astonished. How he had the capacity to worry about her with everything else going on was unthinkable. She knew she owed him the truth, just not all of it right now. "Danny, I – I didn't lie to you when I said I came to Hawaii for a fresh start. I did, and I really thought I would get it. And I have." She smiled at him and he gave a tiny, distracted smile in return as they both remembered their first meeting. "But, the reason I left, the reason I wanted a new start – well, I had a really messy divorce. I had to get a restraining order against my ex-husband." She looked up to see overwhelming concern in her boyfriend's eyes, and was so grateful that he wasn't angry with her for keeping any of this a secret. At least it didn't look that way. "I don't want to go into the details, not right now. There are more important things to worry about. But my lawyer called this afternoon, right after we talked and I had to go see her. I knew Steve wasn't at work, so I called and asked if he could pick up Grace. I would have called back to let you know, but you couldn't have answered anyway. And I know that you trust Steve completely, so I didn't think it would be a problem. I am so, so sorry that it turned out this way," she finished, looking away from Danny.

She felt a hand on her chin as Danny lightly turned her face back toward his. "Hey. Hey, it's okay, Amber." He grabbed her gently into a hug. "I'm sorry I blamed you, and I'm sorry I yelled." They separated after a moment and Danny spoke again. "I just – I don't even know what to feel right now."

"Danny, it's fine. It's okay. Really," she implored. "And I'm the one that should be comforting you right now, not the other way around."

With that statement, any concern that Danny had for Amber was buried as this thoughts returned to his injured daughter and lost, probably injured partner. He stood up in silence and began pacing again. "I should call Rachel and give her an update. Apparently Grover didn't give her any details. Just told her she needed to get back here."

Danny started fishing his cell phone out of his pocket, dreading the call he was about to make, but looked up sharply at the sound of footsteps on linoleum.

"Family of Grace Williams?"

…..

More bouncing. More Spanish. More pain.

Steve slowly came around lying, luckily, on his uninjured side in the back of a moving vehicle. SUV. Black interior. But there was nothing lucky about this situation. His hands we zip-tied behind him, which put a lot more strain on his broken collarbone than he was comfortable with. Not that it would have been comfortable anyway. His feet were zip-tied as well, and as he tried to shuffle and see how much movement he could get away with, he realized that his feet were tied to something in the vehicle as well. So much for any escape plan. He was well and truly stuck.

The SUV hit a particularly large bump and knocked Steve's head back to the floor. He was instantly reminded of his headache and the fact that he'd been kicked in the head two times already today. It was only two, right? He sucked in a sharp breath and was also unpleasantly reminded that his ribs were tender and sore. He could feel the deep bruises from the seatbelt, as well as some new scrapes on his back. Probably from his fun trip up the embankment back to the road.

A sudden thought had his heart pounding. Grace!

She wasn't here, was she? He hoped that these men didn't go back to get her after they dragged him up the hill. Steve twisted around, trying to see more of his temporary prison, grimacing as he did so. There was no sign of Grace, just the sound of the men's voices as they chatted away.

Maybe chatting wasn't the best word for it. Steve stopped moving and strained his ears, listening more intently. The rapid fire Spanish reminded him of birds or maybe squirrels. He could hardly catch a word every few seconds and even then it was useless because he couldn't understand it. But they didn't sound too happy. This certainly wasn't a casual chat between friends.

But then he heard it. _Williams_. The word didn't roll off the man's tongue smoothly at all. It stood out easily from the other monotone chatter.

So maybe this wasn't about him? This was about Grace – or Danny. These guys must be from Columbia, from Reyes' crew! Steve couldn't think of any other Spanish-speaking enemies that Five-0 had made, or that he had made.

As he tuned out the discussion and focused on this new information, Steve was simultaneously relieved and frightened. What these men had done to Matty… he shuddered. But what these men could have done to Grace! God, he hoped she wasn't in the car somewhere. He hoped that his wild goose chase had worked.

He tugged and strained against his bonds again, but it was useless. He was well and truly stuck. He figured he should take advantage of this time as much as possible and save his energy. Steve didn't know what was coming, but whatever it was it wouldn't be good for him.

…..

"Okay, go back a few more minutes. I've got a bad feeling about this…" Chin muttered while his cousin manned the smart table controls.

"What are you thinking, Cuz?"

"Right there," Chin pointed out the dark SUV on the screen. "Look at the time stamp. The SUV that followed Steve arrived a full 10 minutes before he even pulled up. No one got out, and no child ever got in either. They weren't there to pick up kid."

"So, what does that mean exactly? Maybe they just forgot something, or remembered that their kid had soccer practice after school today." Kono looked away from the screen for the first time in an hour to give her cousin a questioning look.

"It's possible. But here's what I'm thinking; Danny was supposed to pick up Grace but then asked Amber to do it, who then asked Steve. There is no way that anybody could have predicted those changes. Grace _had_ to have been the target," explained Chin.

"But Cuz, everybody on the island knows about the Barrett case. It's been gaining publicity for years and it was hardly a secret that Five-0 got involved right before it wrapped. Anyone could have figured out that Danny would be in court. It's the third day of the proceedings. They could have had some simple surveillance outside the courthouse and figured that out. Maybe someone assumed that Steve would pick her up instead, he's done it before. Steve still could have been the target," Kono reasoned.

"But how could they know who it would be? Rachel sends the driver a lot or it could have been any one of us. I still say that Grace was the intended target," responded Chin.

"But why Grace? Was this a straightforward kidnapping then? And why take Steve instead? If they were only after Grace they wouldn't just take Steve in her place." Chin and Kono were still mulling over their myriad questions when Lou walked out of his office.

"Nothing new from CSU that we didn't already know. They confirmed both Grace and Steve's blood in the truck. And they weren't able to pull any prints off the guardrail. There were no tire tracks to get a mold of, and no other evidence of anyone else in the area. They have a few prints from the truck and the truck's tracking device that are going through the system now," he summarized for the cousins. "What did we get from the security footage?"

Kono turned back to the table and forwarded the video to when Steve pulled away from the school. "This SUV," she gestured, "pulled out immediately after Steve. No plates on it and no distinctive marks. It looks like two men in the front seats, but the windshield is tinted and we can't get a photo for facial rec. Then Chin noticed," she rewound the video to their previous point of discussion, "that it was parked at the school for a full 10 minutes before Steve even arrived and never picked up a child. Right now we think that Grace was the intended target."

"Why not Steve?" the former SWAT captain echoed Kono's earlier thought.

"Like I said to Kono, there is no way that anyone could have known that Steve was picking her up. Its Danny's weekend with her, which our mysterious attackers could have figured out either by getting ahold of the custody agreement or just following Danny for a while, and he had called Amber to pick her up, who then called Steve. But it could have been any one of us picking her up, and these people might have known that Danny was in court as well," Chin retold his theory.

Lou looked at the screen for a while and seemed to be thinking about Chin's explanation "Guys, I really hate to say this, but – what about Amber?" Lou asked gently.

"Lou." Chin narrowed his eyes, while Kono just looked shocked. "What _about_ Amber? Do you think she could have been the target?" he asked the larger man with a warning edge to his tone.

"It's possible. But I mean, how well do we really know her? They've only been dating for how long?" Lou still looked guilty as hell, but was willing to press his questioning.

"I don't know, Cuz, like, five months you think?" Chin asked his younger cousin, willing to see where Lou's thought was going.

"Yeah, they had just started dating when Edward Cobb collapsed that parking garage on us to try and kill Steve," she responded. "I think Danny said they met at a gas station on the other side of the island, right before that whole debacle with the kid on the boat shooting Amber by accident," recalled Kono, trying to present as much information as she remembered.

"Look," Lou held up his hands, almost in defense, "I defer to you guys as far as Danny's character and who he would choose to date and introduce to his daughter. You've know him years longer than I have, but look at the facts; the only person who knew that Steve was picking up Grace was Amber," Lou pointed out, leaving the implications hanging heavily in the air.

"Shit," Kono breathed.

"Well, it's a valid theory, Lou. But we really don't have anything to go on yet," Chin tried to reason through the brutal thought. "We don't have any idea of the motivations for this, and hell, we're not even entirely certain that this wasn't an accident."

"Seriously, Cuz?" Kono asked, exasperated. "Steve wouldn't just crash his truck and then disappear."

Chin sighed and laid out the facts. "Look, we haven't found any solid evidence of foul play beyond the truck's tracking device being disconnected, which _could _have happened by accident." He held up a hand when Kono opened her mouth to protest. "We have no idea where Steve is or if he was actually taken. Maybe he's running around the jungle trying to find a way to get help because he couldn't make it back up to the road. Maybe he is concussed and confused and doesn't remember where he is. We also have no evidence that the SUV actually followed them after leaving Grace's school. And we can't get more footage until offices are open tomorrow," Chin listed everything he could think of, trying to convince himself that there could be some other option.

"Seriously, Cuz?" Kono asked again, this time just sounding disappointed. "What – do you think that the boss is so paranoid that he gets a concussion and then thinks that people are after him so he hides Grace and goes to ground? That he wouldn't see the rescue crew or wouldn't have sought us out by now?" Kono looked to Grover to back her up, but Lou crossed his arms and furrowed his brow in contemplation.

"Really, guys?" Kono asked again, now sounding unsure of herself and glancing between the two men. "I mean, we all know what he went through, but…" she trailed off. All three of them stood silently and avoided each other eyes, reliving the moment that they found Steve in that hellhole barely a week ago. As they thought about it more, the possibility that Steve had freaked and had some kind of breakdown seemed more and more plausible.

"Lou," Chin broke the awkward, sad silence, "you've probably talked to Steve the most. Do you think that something like this could have happened? I mean, the doctors cleared him. The drugs were out of his system, and he would _never_ have risked hurting Grace."

"I don't know. Danny's been practically living with him since he let the hospital. He might know McGarrett's state of mind better right now. But I agree with you that Steve wouldn't have put Grace at risk, for anything. If he didn't think he was well enough, he wouldn't have agreed to pick her up," Lou surmised.

"But that still leaves us with Amber," Chin reluctantly added.

"Do we really think that she could be involved in some way?" Kono asked, not sure of anything anymore. "What are we going to tell Danny?" she wondered, sounding incredibly worried.

"Right now we don't have to tell him anything. It's just a theory. And he's in no state to be assisting us with this investigation," answered Chin. "Look, it's getting late and we don't have anything else to go on right now. We've only got a handful of evidence and we can only go over it so many times. We'll come back with a fresh start in the morning. Hopefully CSU will have something soon, and as much as I hate to say it, we should start looking into Amber's background. Now, let's get to the hospital and see how Grace is doing," Chin didn't wait for the others as he retreated into his office to shut everything down for the night.

Lou and Kono looked at each other, then turned without a word and walked to their respective offices, accepting Chin as their leader in the absence of both Steve and Danny.

…..

Amber held Danny tighter when he nearly collapsed against her as they neared Grace's cubicle in the PICU. Her heart felt like it was breaking when he choked on a sob and would have fallen if not for the smaller woman struggling to hold him up. As it was, she couldn't support his weight and gently lowered him to the floor where he shook uncontrollably with the heartbreaking sobs that racked his body.

Having been so focused on Danny while she held him tightly and rubbed a soothing hand up and down his back, she hadn't yet shifted her gaze to Grace. But she did so now.

It was easy, too easy, to see why Danny was completely overwhelmed and distraught. Little Grace was dwarfed in the large hospital bed, so pale and still. Her face had been cleaned up, but there was an angry row of stitches where her head had impacted the window and worst of all was the large tube sticking out of her throat. A precaution, the doctor had said, to let her lungs and diaphragm heal from the impact trauma. Wires ran under her hospital gown to an array of equipment beside her bed. It was all so much to take in.

Amber felt the tears, which had been preparing for their chance at escape, spill over onto her cheeks. She didn't know what to do for Danny. She didn't have a child of her own, although Grace had wormed her way into Amber's heart already, and she couldn't possibly imagine what Danny was feeling right now.

His gut-wrenching sobs had quieted and the nurses had finally stopped giving them sympathetic and pitying looks as they went about their business taking care of their critical young patients.

"Okay," she heard Danny exhale, and thought that she could actually feel his resolve as his muscles tightened and he prepared to stand and face a parent's worst nightmare. "Okay," he said again, stronger this time. He sniffled and wiped at his face. Amber stood and helped lift him to his feet. She slid her hand into his for a brief moment, and he squeezed it in return, painfully hard, but Amber didn't mind and barely noticed.

Amber let her hand drift free as he stepped forward, wanting to give him this moment of feigned privacy with the little girl that was the center of his entire world.

…..

Danny continued to move forward, despite wanting with his entire being to run away and never have to face what was in front of him. He felt empty. Seeing his little girl lying in the too big hospital bed, tubes and wires going every which way, and words like _traumatic brain injury_, _hematoma_ and _bruised diaphragm_ echoing in his mind, it was all too much for him. He felt embarrassed at his very public breakdown a moment ago, and resolved himself to be strong for Gracie, and for Rachel when she arrived. This was going to kill her, too. This was their little girl. The one thing that they had done right in their relationship. The only thing that he felt he had done right in his whole life.

As he took her small hand in his, he felt his resolve already breaking. She was so cold. Too still. So small.

He heard a scraping sound and felt something contact the back of his legs. Then Amber's hands on his shoulders as she pushed him gently into the chair. Just in time, because he wasn't sure his legs could hold him up any longer.

Scanning Grace's bruised and battered face, distorted and stretched by the tube and the fucking _machine_ that was breathing for her at the moment, he felt a surge of pure anger aimed at his partner and he gripped his daughter's hand tightly in both of his larger ones.

How could Steve have let this happen!? What the hell had he been thinking, picking up Grace when he was still healing from his own ordeal?

Danny blew out a heavy breath and lowered his forehead to his hands that held Grace's smaller hand in his. No, he couldn't blame his partner. They still had no idea what happened. Hell, they had no idea _where_ Steve was or if he was even still alive right now. _Still alive!_ His partner had to still be alive! Oh god, and a moment ago he was blaming Steve for this. And he was blaming Amber. And he was blaming himself. And he was so furious at the world. And so completely heartbroken and lost.

The only thing he knew was that he was not leaving his daughter's side. He looked up again at her face and listened to the _whoosh_ of the ventilator and saw her chest respond to the air being forced into her lungs. He buried his face in his hands once more and sobbed silently into the sheets. He felt Amber hands on his shaking shoulders, providing what little strength and comfort she could, and he appreciated her presence.

A few minutes later, the exhaustion and stress caught up with him and he drifted off, holding tightly to his daughter's hand and begging for salvation.

…..

When Chin, Kono and Lou entered the PICU with a uniform trailing behind them, they stopped and took in the sight that greeted them.

Amber was standing over Danny, her hands on his shoulders, while he was sat in a chair with his head resting on the side of Grace's bed, her small hand disappearing under his. Amber heard the commotion of so many bodies entering the ward and turned around. Seeing the team keeping their distance she glanced back at Danny and then removed her hands carefully and walked quietly over to them.

"Have you found Steve?" she asked in a whisper, hopeful, but already knowing the answer from their crestfallen faces.

"No, and no useful evidence has been found yet. We just know that they were most likely followed from the school by someone, but we have no idea who," Lou was the first to speak up. He put a comforting hand on her arm, almost forgetting his earlier suspicions. "How's Grace? And how is he doing?" The father in him was concerned for Danny, knowing just how crushing and impossible this situation must be for him. And despite his reservations about Amber at the moment, Danny needed her there and he wasn't willing to take away that support just yet.

"He…he's not too great. He kind of had a breakdown when he first saw her. But there's been no change since the doctor spoke with us. She hasn't woken up yet, and they say we have to wait to see if there will be a secondary brain injury from the trauma." Her eyes glistened as they once again filled with tears when she looked back over to Grace and Danny. "He fell asleep a little bit ago. He's completely exhausted from everything," she said distractedly.

Kono and Chin moved to stand on the other side of Grace's bed. Chin put a comforting arm around his cousin and she melted into his embrace. For almost five years they had watched this little girl grow up and this scene was heartbreaking to them as well.

Barely a week ago the team had been holding vigil around another bedside in much the same manner, waiting for their leader to wake up. Another crisis so soon seemed unfair, and too much to handle. Especially for Danny. First his partner, and now his daughter. The universe was conspiring against them, him in particular. And they still had no clue what to expect when, or if, they finally found Steve.

The commotion eventually woke Danny, and he lifted his head to look at the cousins, then back to the face of his daughter. His eyes were red and puffy and he already looked like he hadn't slept in a week. Well, Chin thought, maybe he hadn't.

"Hey, Brah," said Chin quietly. "No good news yet, but we'll keep you in the loop. Hang in there." No more words were needed. Danny nodded his thanks in recognition of the brief update.

Lou stepped up behind the seated man and rested a giant hand on his small shoulder. "Rachel's flight lands in an hour. I'll get her and bring her straight here," he stated gently, but with a tone that left no room for argument.

"There will be a uni outside the ward until we know what's going on. Amber will have a protective detail as well. We don't know who was behind this or what to expect next," Chin explained further.

Danny just sat silently and nodded, accepting the information and refocusing his attention on Grace, her hand in his.

"Need anything else, Brah?" Kono asked tentatively. A tear spilled onto her cheek as Danny looked at her without answering and she saw the tears resume their silent tracks down his face. Chin held her tighter against his side. They all knew what he needed right now. The _only_ thing he needed right now.

"We'll be by tomorrow Danny. And we'll keep you updated," Chin stated, hoping to hear anything from his normally talkative, rant-filled friend. With no answer, and no acknowledgement this time, he gave Kono another comforting squeeze and drifted toward the door.

Kono stepped forward and placed a small kiss on Grace's forehead. "We love you, keiki. Wake up soon, okay," she gently demanded and hoped that it proved true. She didn't know how much longer Danny could take this.

At her words, Danny lowered his head again and they saw his shoulders begin to shake with silent sobs once more.

Lou gave Danny's shoulder a final squeeze and said, "I'll see you in a bit, Danny." He let go and turned to Amber, "Another officer will arrive shortly to escort you home or assist the detail here, whatever you prefer." As he said this, Lou thought about the secondary task for the trusted officer; to keep track of her movements and note any suspicious behavior.

"Okay, thank you, Captain Grover." Of all of Danny's teammates, he was the one she was least familiar with. "I think I'll stay for a while, but I don't know if Danny and Rachel will want me here after she arrives," she stated sorrowfully.

"Okay, take care," Lou said and turned to join his teammates in the doorway. "I'll see you soon," he stated in farewell as the team turned and left her alone once more with Danny. As she looked back at the bed, he seemed to have fallen asleep again. She pulled a chair up beside him and rested her head on his shoulder with an arm around his back, wishing that she could do more for him and lamenting that all they could do was wait.

…..

"Get _off_ of me!" yelled Steve as he struggled against the men manhandling him out of the back of the SUV. "Who are you!? What do you want with me!?" he demanded loudly as he awkwardly tried to support his weight on numb legs that had been cut free. He had been lying stationary in the back of the vehicle for a few hours and this sudden transition was not helping his headache or growing nausea. Or his mood. He hissed and then groaned through gritted teeth when the men held him tighter and began forcing him to walk forward, the pressure on his broken collarbone reawakening.

"Diego, informe al jefe que hemos llegado," said the man on Steve's right.

"A la orden, señor," was the immediate reply from 'Diego' as he ran ahead of them and the sound of his footsteps quickly faded. Steve was just beginning to get his bearings and look around when the man giving the orders spoke again.

"Carlos, la capucha, ahora!" and Steve tried to resist as a hood was forced over his head. His struggle was cut short with an unseen fist to his tender ribs. He leaned forward in his captors' arms, trying to catch his breath which only aggravated his collarbone further. From what little Steve had seen before the hood, they were in the middle of the jungle, and high up if the drop in temperature was anything to go by. That matched with the unbearably bumpy ride to get here. They had obviously left the main roads at some point over an hour ago.

"Adelante!" Steve was forced to stand up and move forward or face being dragged as the men started walking again. Only three men now, two at his sides and the third man somewhere ahead of them giving the orders. This may be his best chance, or his only chance. With his hands still tied behind his back, and his left arm more or less out of commission, these were not good odds. But the alternatives that lay ahead would only be worse if his treatment so far was anything to go by.

Steve pulled lightly against the men supporting him and feigned gagging. The men stopped and started to say something to the man in charge, but Steve leaned to the left then slammed his already aching head into the man's unprepared face. He simultaneously kicked the man on his right behind the knees and felt him go down. Unfortunately the man still had a tight grip on his arm and Steve was pulled down as well. He continued kicking wildly, trying to disarm the two men while he worked his arms down past his legs to get them at his front. He had to stop kicking momentarily as he successfully threaded his legs through the hoop of his arms, crying out as he did so as it was an unpleasant but necessary thing to do. It seems he had caught the men off guard as the blows he had been expecting to rain down on him never did. He ripped off the hood with his zip-tied hands and saw why there was no attempt to subdue him.

The leader of the small crew had a handgun levelled at his head, and the other two men had scooted away to get out of the line of fire.

"La capucha, Capitán," the man gestured to the hood in McGarrett's hands.

"You expect me to put his back on willingly?" Steve asked venomously. The standoff continued and the man with the gun appeared to be getting very impatient. With a sudden swift movement he fired at the ground next to Steve's feet. Steve jumped back and looked around him.

A few more men had arrived, probably attracted by the sounds of the scuffle, but where they materialized from Steve had no idea. He knew he only had a few more seconds to look around and gather intel before his hand was forced and he was essentially blinded again.

There was more than one weapon pointed at him, and as Steve was frantically looking around and memorizing as much as he could, he failed to notice the silent footsteps behind him, only becoming aware when the cold barrel of another gun was pressed against the back of his head.

"I do not miss this time, Capitán," said the faceless voice.

Steve was out of options and completely outnumbered. He took a last look around and he slowly lowered his head and subjected himself unwillingly to the darkness and its limitations.

"Buen elección, señor," the faceless voice said, this time prodding Steve in the back with the barrel of his gun. He reluctantly stumbled forward with the cold metal between his shoulder blades as incentive. He felt the presence of his two handlers moments before they once again latched onto his arms, much tighter this time. Steve's thoughts turned dark and his heart plummeted as he realized there was no way he could escape with his life at this point. He would just have to go with it, and bide his time in hopes that a safer escape option would appear.

One week. He had enjoyed one week of freedom, and not even that since he was out of his mind, bouncing between realities when the drugs had been leaving his system.

"Más rápido," the man ahead of him commanded and Steve got lost in a haze of pain as he was practically picked up and marched forward at a brutal pace. He stumbled at the sudden change but was held up by the men holding his arms. He gagged for real this time as he felt his bones grate against each other once more. Luckily he had already lost whatever had been in his stomach and only a small stream of bile damped the hood over his head.

The men weren't going to fall for the same trick twice and forced him onward while he dry heaved.

Steve lost a few minutes of time but refocused as they slowed their pace on a steep downhill. He heard the scream of rusty metal and felt a rush of cooler air on his face. He heard echoing footsteps ahead of him and assumed they had arrived at some sort of bunker.

In the middle of the Hawaiian jungle.

Hours from civilization.

And no one knew where he was. _He_ had no clue where he was.

His dark thoughts were interrupted as the men at his side disappeared and the gun barrel returned at his back.

"Adelante," he was commanded. _Forward_, he assumed.

"Ya know, I kinda like it out here in the fresh air," he said, trying to buy time. To what point and purpose he couldn't quite reason through, but he knew he didn't want to be trapped in this bunker.

"Adelante!" the faceless voice commanded again and the gun was pressed harder into his back.

He had no choice.

He stepped blindly forward and was surprised when his foot met nothing but air. He lurched downward, but caught himself on the steps, putting unnecessary force on his sliced shin and hissing as he twisted his ankle a bit.

The fun returned between his shoulder blades. "Okay, okay. I'm going." He reached his bound hands out, looking for a handrail and luckily found one. Stepping carefully downwards, mindful of his throbbing ankle now, he was again caught off guard when he suddenly reached the bottom.

The two goons that had been holding him returned and led him forward. Right turn. 20 paces. Left. The air was getting cooler. 40 paces. A large hallway, the footsteps echoed more. Right again. The hinges of another door screeched their lack of use. And he was shoved forward only to be caught by more sets of hands.

He instinctively struggled as he was slammed into a chair and his hands were cut free, only to be forced into restraints on the arms of the chair.

_No!_

Not again! He couldn't do this again!

He kicked out frantically, uncoordinated and was rewarded with a cry of pain, followed by a frustrated growl. It was soon returned with a fist to the face that made him see stars. Tears started streaming down his face as he realized he couldn't stop what was happening to him. He didn't even register the salty water on his face, just fought wildly without thought or coordination while the panic built up inside of him. The men were talking to each other, yelling as he increased his struggles, but he couldn't understand a word. Only that this was very, _very_ bad.

Not again. Not again not again not again not again!

The mantra repeated itself so loudly in his head that he hardly noticed when the hands left him. The voices faded as the men turned away, leaving him alone in the middle of the room, in the bowels of a bunker, tied to a chair, in the middle of the jungle…tied to a fucking chair! The scenario was too reminiscent of what had transpired a week ago and he started hyperventilating under the hood.

Steve was aware of the tears streaming down his face now to mix with the bile that had soaked into the heavy hood, but he could do nothing to stop them. He was going to pass out, he realized. He _had_ to slow his breathing somehow.

_C'mon, Rambo. You know what to do. I'm sure the Army trained you for this sort of thing. What would your buddies think if they saw you now, huh? _

"It's the _Navy_, Danny," Steve said through gritted teeth. He only realized after a beat that his partner wasn't there talking to him. His partner had no idea where he was. "Dammit, Danny," he said to the empty room. Talking to his non-existent partner, that was a great sign. He took a few more deep breaths and realized that his breathing was now nearly under control. Danny-in-his-head had actually helped.

He felt calmer and gave a chuckle at the ridiculousness of what was happening in his mind. At least it took his thoughts off of his current situation that had escaped from his nightmares and into reality.

"What's so funny, Capitán?" a voice asked out of the darkness.

Steve jumped in his seat. He hadn't realized that anyone was still in the room and cursed himself for his inattention.

_Settle down, SuperSEAL. Let it go, it's in the past. Hakuna Matata, Grace would say. But pay attention now and get some intel. You need to know what we're up against._

We? …whatever.

"Who are you? What is this?" Steve asked, his head turning to follow the sound of the footsteps.

"Capitán McGarrett, you have not figured it out?" asked a heavily accented voice.

"What do you want with me?" demanded the former SEAL. Danny-in-his-head was right, he needed to know what he was facing.

"Well, Capitán. I am actually very disappointed to see you, you see. I had hoped my men would bring me the little girl, and maybe the woman with her. But I will have to make do with you now," was the terrifying response from the faceless, menacing voice currently walking in circles around the restrained man.

So Grace _had_ been who they wanted. These people had been willing to kidnap a little girl, and probably bring her to this same place. And Amber, was that what he meant by 'the woman with her'? Steve wondered.

Steve didn't know how to handle the emotions flooding through him at this information.

_Hey! Hey SuperSEAL. Focus on yourself. The girls are safe, you made sure of that. So you worry about you now, okay?_

Danny-in-his-head sounded concerned. But again, he was right. Grace was safe. Hurt badly maybe, but hopefully getting the proper medical attention by now. Someone had to have found her, it'd been hours. Amber would have contacted Chin or Kono when she couldn't find Steve anywhere, and they would have started a search.

_Steve! Focus!_

Right. The man had been speaking, and he hadn't been listening. Steve had been too caught up in his relief that Grace wasn't here with him.

"Who are you!?" he asked again, more forcefully this time, interrupting the man's monologue that he had long ago lost track of.

"Capitán, I see you will not be deterred. Please, allow me to introduce myself." The footsteps halted directly in front of him, and Steve hoped that the hood would be removed so he could look his abductor in the eyes. No such luck, he was doomed to sensory deprivation and lacking the intel that would come with knowing the face of this man.

"My name is Juan Carlos Santos. And Marco Reyes was my best friend."

…..

TBC

**Notes and Translations:**

PICU = Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Informe al jefe que hemos llegado = Inform the boss that we've arrived

A la orden = at your order/service, a polite or military yes. "By your command" if you're a cylon.

La capucha = a hood (Big thanks to reader Sira for a correction!)

Buen elección = good choice

Más rápido = faster

Capitán = McGarrett's equivalent rank in the unspecified-but-totally-obivious-country's Navy.

Side note on translations: I speak Castillian or "Spain" Spanish, so I'm trying to figure out some colloquial terms for this story and not throw in the slang that I know by accident.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** Of course fate has it that right after I say I'll update weekly, I don't. But let me tell you, UTIs are a super duper fun way to spend a weekend. TMI, sorry.

But Holy ego boost, Batman! Sheesh, I ask for constructive criticism and all I get are generous and lovely compliments. You guys are the best! If I ever need a pick-me-up I'll just come back here and instantly feel good about myself. Thank you all so much for the ideas, thoughts and encouragement. I'm so glad you are all enjoying the story!

For those wondering, I haven't figured out a few big points in the story, or how far I want to follow the recovery portion, but I anticipate wrapping this thing up sometime in March. So if you're waiting for a complete fic, check back around that time.

**Warnings/Spoilers:** Big time on both. If you haven't seen **5.04**, a) you're missing out on some seriously intense H50 b) the motivations for everything in this chapter will make absolutely no sense to you and c) just huge gigantic spoilers for the entire Reyes/Danny/Columbia plotline. This fic, if not this chapter, will completely spoil the episode.

Warnings – Beware of more intensity, I ratchet it up pretty high right at the start and don't really let go. Mentions/discussion of child endangerment/abuse that luckily never happens thanks to our intrepid hero, as well as a more detailed description of Grace's injuries. Please suspend biological and/or medical reality though as I'm not anywhere close to a doctor and Wikipedia can only do so much.

**Disclaimer:** See Chapter 2. I'm lazy.

CHAPTER 4

"My name is Juan Carlos Santos. And Marco Reyes was my best friend."

_Shit. _As if his day could get any worse. So that's what this was about. Danny, Matty, Reyes: the names swirled around with memories in Steve's head as he recalled their brief trip to Columbia a few months ago.

That basement. What Danny did.

He supported his partner, he really did. Once Grace was threatened, all bets were off. If it had been Danny in that barrel, and Steve in his partner's place, he had no idea how he might have reacted. Steve would like to think that he'd be more controlled, he was trained for extreme circumstances, but still, Danny in that barrel…

"You have not heard of me, Capitán McGarrett? I must say I am disappointed. You should have followed up after what you did in my country. To my best friend. You are former Navy Intelligence, no? I think you would want to know the chain of events that you caused. After all, it is what led you here, Capitán." Santos was still walking circles around Steve who remained immobile, restrained in the chair.

"So what, this is some grand revenge scheme?" Steve accused, his voice dripping with disdain.

"Exactly, Capitán," was the pleased answer from the faceless voice now positioned eerily close behind him.

"So what, you try to kidnap his daughter to make him suffer? That was your plan? You have to know that we'd find you. And you know that we'd do the same thing to you that Danny did to Reyes! Your friend wasn't innocent, you know. He killed Danny's brother and he deserved –" A swift punch to the gut cut off Steve's retort and he once again cursed the fact that he couldn't see it coming.

"I wasn't going to simply kidnap her, Capitán McGarrett." Santos waited. He seemed to enjoy baiting Steve.

"Kill her then? Kill a twelve-year-old girl? You're sick, you know that. You're a disgusting piece of –" His rant was once again cut short by a well-timed fist to his midsection. Steve grunted and tried to suck in a few shallow breaths while his diaphragm took its sweet time to overcome the abuse.

_Hey, SuperSEAL. Maybe not a great idea to keep antagonizing the bad guy, huh?_

'Shut up, Danno!' Steve thought as Santos spoke again. "Surely you know, Capitán McGarrett, there are worse things than killing a person."

Steve knew what he meant. The disgusting son of a bitch!

"I – am going – to kill you." Steve struggled to keep his voice steady and menacing despite the pure rage that threatened to take him over. He had never hated a person more in his entire life. He had also never been happier to be taken prisoner in his entire life. Forget wondering what he would have done to Reyes if his and Danny's positions had been reversed. He was going to take this son of a bitch out, hopefully with his bare hands, slowly and painfully.

_Down boy! He doesn't have her! Okay, babe. Grace is safe! We'll get this son of a bitch eventually, you just have to stay alive, alright SuperSEAL? Stay. Alive. _

Steve tried to listen to the wisdom of Danny's voice being the voice of reason for Steve, whereas Danny was the one who should have been completely losing it. This was his daughter they were talking about after all.

"You truly think you will kill me?" Santos laughed at him. "But how will you do this, Capitán? You are all tied up? You are helpless, are you not?"

Steve growled, literally growled, and pulled hard against his restraints in response. He was almost becoming accustomed to the throbbing pain of his broken collarbone, or maybe that was his rage and adrenaline keeping the pain in check.

"Do you know what is more painful than having your loved ones killed, Capitán?" Santos waited again. Apparently this man was very patient. Steve was tempted to let the stalemate linger to see if he could get under his enemy's skin, but ended up giving in.

"Try me," he grunted.

"To try to put them back together again…and to fail." Santos' steps echoed across the empty room and soon returned with something, probably a chair, scraping along behind him. "To be responsible for someone's destruction, or death, that is one thing. But the pain eventually fades, I know this. Not quickly, and not without wanting to die yourself. But what is worse? To see your pain every single day. To look at it, and know that you caused it, and to not be able to escape it. And to not be able to fix it or ever make it go away. This is what is worse, Capitán." The slow scraping stopped and the chair was dropped directly across from Steve. With his senses fine-tuned due to the deprivation of his sight, Steve could hear Santos drop himself into the chair.

"This is worse, no?" Santos asked with pleasure tainting his words. It was disgusting, really.

"So, you're telling me you get your jollies from torturing people almost to death, making their lives hell, and then returning them as a warning? That about sum it up, you sick bastard?" Steve asked sarcastically, throwing as much judgment and disdain into his words as possible. But inside he was filled with fear. It did seem a fate worse than death, maybe. But for which party involved?

Perhaps he would still be alive at the end of this. And it wasn't anything he hadn't gone through before.

Some classified missions with the SEALs. Wo Fat in Korea. The Taliban in Afghanistan. Wo Fat again…a week ago. A fucking week ago and here he was again, facing torture by another madman.

But as he thought about all of the horrible physical and mental trials he'd had to endure, he thought that by far the worst was Freddie's funeral. Telling his little girl, his precious little girl, that… that her daddy loved her very much. She would never know her father, and that was on Steve. He took that from her before she was even born. His heart broke every time he thought about it. That was the worst moment of his life. And he wouldn't ever be able to do it again. He could never face that little girl again, it was just too painful. And Kelly, it destroyed him inside to know that he was responsible for all of her pain and suffering, and that their child would never know her father.

His breath hitched. That's exactly what this psycho was talking about. That's the exact pain that Santos was going to force onto Danny. That horrible, crushing regret. At least Steve didn't have to see Kelly and Freddie's daughter every day, the way that Danny would have to see Steve at the end of this. It would have been with his daughter. Sweet, precious Grace. But now Santos had to settle for Steve instead.

He was glad.

He was absolutely terrified.

Danny-in-his-head was silent. A silent Danny was never a good thing, even if he was a figment of the imagination.

Santos must have realized the moment that Steve figured it out. The moment that Steve realized the truth of his sadistic statements.

"So you see, Capitán McGarrett, you can call me all of the names that you wish. But you know that I am right. You see that for Detective Williams this is a fate worse than death. He will suffer with guilt as long as he is alive. And you will suffer horrible pain."

The bastard was so sure of himself. But there was a complication in his plan that maybe Santos didn't realize. And that complication was Steve. This sadistic plan was dependent on him being so broken at the end that he couldn't function anymore, that Danny would feel responsible for ruining Steve's life. So Steve wouldn't break.

He couldn't break. For Danny's sake.

…..

Kono barreled into the office, ashamed at herself that she slept through her alarm. This had never happened to her before. And now, of all the times! Her boss was missing and even though she had set the alarm for a mere three hours after she fell asleep it still seemed like a complete waste of her time. A call from Chin finally roused her at seven o'clock and she had arrived at headquarters not twenty minutes later, her cheeks burning with shame.

"Don't sweat it, Cuz," Chin said as she stormed in without even looking up at her. "I've just been collected traffic cam footage and contacting businesses for their security tapes. Not much has come in yet. Lou is on his way to the scene now to see if they've found anything more in the daylight."

"What does the footage tell us so far?" asked Kono. If Chin was going to ignore her blunder, than maybe she could as well. But it wouldn't make her feel any better about it.

Chin threw up a few screenshots on the overheads. "Nothing that we didn't already guess. This SUV arrived at the school before Steve got there, and now we can confirm that it was following them. The windows are all tinted, but I'm hoping that we can get something to work with from some business or ATM cameras."

"Okay. So what do we do until we get more footage?"

"Well, you can go light a fire under Fong, but I'm sure he's plenty motivated. Or," Chin hesitated and looked at her guiltily, "you can start looking into Amber's background."

"Brah, you can't really be serious about this? I mean, I realize that Lou has some good points, but, Danny needs her right now. We can't take that away."

"Cuz, Danny needs Steve, too. And if Amber has any information or may be involved in any way, we need to know."

"I know, I know. I just – I really hate that we have to do this," Kono lamented.

"Me too, Cuz. Me too."

…..

The silence was killing him. Santos had been seated in front of him for at least ten minutes and neither man had spoken a word. Steve finally decided that for better or worse, he had to get something started. His team needed a clue.

"So, when does the gloating start?" he asked his captor as if they were having a friendly chat at the beach.

Santos laughed at him again. "Oh no, Capitán. You are mistaken. There is no gloating. That might spoil my fun. No, no. We cannot have that."

Steve's heart started beating frantically in his chest. How would his team ever find him? Get him out of this mess?

_Hey, settle down. Why do I have to keep telling you this? How did you ever survive the SEALs? Geez. C'mon, you're smart. You'll figure out a way to make him contact us. You've got to. _

Steve took the advice to heart. "Seriously? You're gonna keep me here for who knows how long and never tell my partner, the man you want to cause all of this suffering to? He'll suffer a lot more if he knows you have me. But you know that. So why not brag, why not make the call?" Steve thought aloud, goaded on by Danny-in-his-head. "I mean, you can't be scared that they'll actually find you, right? A man like you, he's gotta have resources and protection. You're smart. Surely you know about all the technology that can make a phone call untraceable. Surely you've got men bought and paid for to keep you safe."

"Of course I know these things!" Santos snapped.

_See, babe, there's definitely something weird going on here._

'Right you are, Danno' thought Steve.

"Of course I want Detective Williams to suffer. And he will. But no, I will not let him know who I am. Not yet. The risk is too great. I must be able to finish my plan." Santos had gotten up from his seat and started pacing again.

Damn. Steve was going to have to be really sneaky about this. He couldn't make it obvious what he was doing, except that he already had. Damn, again. But Steve had the feeling that Santos truly understood the pain that he wanted to inflict upon Danny. This guy had to be deranged, mentally unstable in some sense of the word, or in every sense of the word, to understand that kind of pain, and to go to these lengths just to cause it. But there was something fishy here. If it was true that he took over the cartel, then he really couldn't afford to stick around very long, right? There was no contact with the outside world inside this bunker. A man running a cartel would have to have an incredibly faithful second in order to be out of touch for any length of time. Right? That, or something else was at play like Danny-in-his-head hinted.

Steve wished that he knew more about this man. Santos was right. Steve was former Naval Intelligence, of course he should have followed up after the events in Columbia. But he had been so caught up with trying to help Danny, and then the whole business with Wo Fat happened. Fine, he'd had other things on his mind. But that certainly wouldn't help him now.

With a tilt of his head, Steve could better hear the frantic pacing and panting that Santos had worked himself into. Definitely something weird going on here.

"So, let me get this straight. You get off on torturing people, causing their loved ones to suffer so horribly, and then handing them back. Haven't you accidentally killed anyone before?" Steve asked, genuinely curious on behalf of his own well-being.

"Of course. It has happened many times." Santos stopped his pacing a little to Steve's left. Steve turned his head to, hopefully, face him.

"So if you kill me, Detective Williams just gets a dead guy dropped on his doorstep? What's the good in that? Like you said, sure it causes plenty of pain, but that pain fades. You know that. I know that." Steve took a breath and played his ace in the hole. "Have you ever tortured a SEAL before? Do you know anything about us? You know that I'm trained for this, right? You know that I can hold in my emotions and not show my pain. The chances of you accidentally killing me are much higher than you think. And maybe I'll make you do just that, and you're plan will be ruined." Sure, Steve was bluffing about being able to control his emotions and his pain. Maybe on a good day. Maybe if he hadn't been through almost this exact scenario one fucking week ago! His heart beat faster in his chest just thinking about it.

Santos still hadn't said a word. Steve had laid out his hand, repeating any of it might give him away. He was banking on the fact that Santos seemed more than a little unstable the more he talked and shared his plan.

Without a word uttered, several pairs of footsteps headed for the door, which clanged shut and left Steve in silence. He strained to hear if there was anyone else in here with him, but after a few minutes of total silence, he decided that no one could be that quiet. He grunted and struggled against the restraints, remembering how he had broken through the last set and fought Wo Fat's hired help before she could stab him with another needle.

Speak of the devil. The door opened again with a scream that shattered the silence and made Steve cringe. He stopped struggling but tensed up, waiting and wondering what was coming next.

"We'll be going on a little trip, Capitán McGarrett" Santos sounded pleased with himself, and Steve wondering what that meant for his hope that Santos would contact his team.

He had been distracted by Santos' words and didn't notice how close one of the lackeys had gotten to him until he felt the needle in his shoulder.

No!

Not more drugs. He needed to pay closer attention. He needed to be…ready. He needed…

Steve thoughts slowed down and eventually fled as the sedative worked its way through his system. He was unconscious by the time his hands and legs were released from the restraints and two men dragged him out of the room.

…..

Lou nearly burned his lips on the coffee in his thermos, but hardly noticed as he was so focused on what was ahead of him, and what was behind. He was on his way to the sight of the accident, the crime scene technically, as he thought back to a few hours ago when he picked up Rachel and escorted her to the hospital.

"_Rachel Edwards? Hi, I'm Lou Grover," Lou held out his hand which Rachel distractedly took. _

"_Captain Grover, nice to meet you. I'm sorry, but I'm really not in the mood for pleasantries right now. What can you tell me about what's going on?" Rachel asked in a rush, eager to hear an update about her daughter after the chaos of getting back to the island. _

"_Of course. Let's walk and talk." Lou grabbed her bag and started a quick pace toward the exit. He was surprised when he actually had to utilize his huge stride to keep up with the worried mother. "Grace is holding her own. The docs are optimistic that she'll wake up soon. She took a pretty big hit to the head in the crash, but they haven't found anything major wrong yet. That's really all I know. I'll let them tell you more when we get there."_

"_What about Commander McGarrett? And how is Daniel holding up?" The British woman surprised him again, remembering their missing teammate even through the distress of knowing that her daughter was injured and lying unconscious in the hospital. _

"_No leads yet. We're still looking for him. There's not much we can do right now until we get something back from the crime lab and get some more video footage in the morning." Lou had to push his stride to its fullest to keep up with this fireball of a woman. "Danny is…well, he's rough. He's handling it as best as I think he can. And knowing how close he and Steve are, I'm surprised he's not more of a mess, honestly."_

_They reached Lou's SUV and he stashed Rachel's bag in the back quickly. If she was hoping that he would open the door for her, she would be disappointed. He was too worried about getting to the hospital as quickly as possible. Talking about Danny's state of mind had him worried for the detective all over again. _

_The drive was completely silent and very tense. The roads were empty at this time of night. When they arrived at the hospital Lou found a close parking space and went to grab Rachel's bag so she could take it with her whenever she left the hospital…if she ever left the hospital. Once again surprised, he saw her practically jogging to the entrance and shouted, "PICU, 4__th__ floor!" as she disappeared through the automatic doors. He shook his head, grabbed the extra coffees he'd picked up before the airport and locked his truck as he followed in her hurried footsteps. _

_Lou arrived just after Rachel and watched the desperate reunion between Danny and his ex-wife from the doorway. He handed two of the coffees to the uniforms on duty. They thanked him as he hesitated in the doorway, then finally decided to impose on the family. _

_If Danny had looked rough before, it was nothing to how he looked now. Barely six hours into his vigil and his eyes were already starting to bruise while his cheeks had a hollow look about them. Amber must have left as she had mentioned, to stay out of the way of Rachel when she arrived. Lou wondered how long Danny had been sitting alone. He felt instantly guilty. He knew that Danny should've had someone with him, supporting him, but they all knew that this could easily turn into a very intense, stressful case. And with Danny more or less out of commission, he, Chin, and Kono were going to need every second of sleep they could come by in order to help Steve. The drama wasn't over by a long shot. _

"_The doctor should be by again in a bit. I asked him to come explain everything to you," Lou heard Danny say quietly. He gave a polite cough and offered the coffees to the couple while he set Rachel's bag down next to the bed. _

_Looking down at the little girl in the bed, Lou was amazed by the strength Danny showed. Sure, he wasn't holding up all that well, but if it was his own daughter lying there, Lou know he would still be a complete mess. Danny was either completely exhausted, which was highly likely, or he had some sort of private reserve of strength to draw from that Lou hadn't found within himself yet. _

_The doctor's arrival interrupted his thoughts. "Mrs. Williams, I'm Dr. Kanohe and I've been taking care of Grace since she was brought in a few hours ago."_

"_Nice to meet you. Please, tell me how she's doing." Lou was very interested to note that Rachel didn't correct the doctor on her name, but had to agree with her that there were more important things to worry about right now. _

_Rachel had tight hold of Grace's hand and Danny's arm was wrapped around her shoulders as the doctor explained the tests and treatment that Grace had undergone so far. Lou hadn't heard the detailed version yet so he tuned in as well. _

"_Grace impacted the window right here," he pointed to a spot just behind his temple. "The pterion is the region where four different bones join together, so it is naturally the weakest part of the skull. She has a small extra-axial bleed that we are watching. That means that the bleed is within the skull but outside of the brain. We are hoping that it will resolve itself and we are monitoring her closely for any change. This is the most likely cause for her extended loss of consciousness. We are concerned, but shouldn't be too worried unless she is unconscious for a full 24 hours, but we're not there yet. I have every hope that she'll wake up before then. Once she wakes up, we'll test her verbal, motor, and stimuli reactions and go from there. This could end up as simple as a concussion or it could become a lot more serious than that, but we can't know right now." _

_The doctor paused, waiting for the information to be internalized. He knew that it was a lot to take in for any parent and didn't want them to become too distraught. At Rachel's nod he continued. "Her other injures, while not severe, could also be hindering her return to consciousness in some way. She had a few lesions on her scalp from the impact with the glass but those have been cleaned and stitched. There are bruises from the seatbelt, which likely saved her life as this was a rollover I'm told. She has two cracked ribs on her right side as well as a sprained wrist. A few more cuts on her legs that have been cleaned, but overall there was very little superficial damage. _

"_She had some diminished breathing sounds on her right side when she was brought in, which is why we chose to intubate. The impact trauma can have unforeseen results and we thought it best to give her lungs and diaphragm a break while her body was recovering from the shock. We will evaluate again in the morning, but for now it is just a precaution to help her heal. Despite her continued unconsciousness she is really recovering quite well. Do either of you have any questions for me?"_

_The doctor had listed all of this off very fast in Lou's opinion, but he supposed it was a little like ripping off a Band-Aid. It all sounded so serious to him, but the doctor seemed only mildly concerned. Lou really wished that Grace would wake up and stop all this worrying that everyone was doing. Well, half of the worrying. They were still missing a certain troublesome Lt. Commander. _

"_My colleague, Dr. Mathers will have the day shift and will be taking over Grace's care when she arrives. Please have the nurses find me if you need anything or have any more questions."_

_Seeing that the couple wasn't going to say anything as they stared at their daughter in mutual distress, Lou stepped in and said, "Thank you for everything, Doc."_

_He nodded his acknowledgement and left the small group to their privacy. Rachel was now sitting in the chair that Danny had vacated, crying quietly as she registered everything she had just been told about her daughter. Danny looked like he had no more tears to shed as he held his ex-wife and stared blankly at the small figure on the bed. _

"_Danny?" Lou asked gently. When there was no reply or even motion from the former Jersey detective, Lou tried again with a hand on his shoulder. "Danny?" he asked more forcefully._

"_Huh? Yeah?" Danny finally asked, his puffy red eyes meeting Lou's sympathetic gaze._

"_Do you need anything? Can I get you or Rachel anything?" _

_Danny looked at him for a moment and then, as if he finally understood the question said simply, "Steve."_

_Lou felt like he'd been punched in the gut as he squeezed Danny's shoulder once more in comfort and, not knowing what to say without turning into a blubbering mess himself, left the hospital quietly to grab a few restless hours of sleep. _

Lou had just pulled up to the crime scene as he recalled Danny's heartbreaking request. The sadness in his eyes was just too much and Lou had to push it out of his mind so that he could focus on the detective's plea: to find Steve.

"Bill, anything new?" Lou asked the first uniform he saw. He regretted that he hadn't picked up more coffees for these men hard at work, but he hadn't remembered it this morning.

"G'morning, Lou," Bill said cheerfully. Maybe there was some good news after all. "The crime lab boys found some blood down on the trail that may belong to either Commander McGarrett or his attackers. It's on its way to the lab right now, left about ten minutes ago."

"That's great news, Bill. Thanks. And let your boys know how much we appreciate it," Lou gushed with relief and hope. "Excuse me while I give the others an update." Lou walked back over to his truck and gave Chin a call.

"Chin Ho Kelly."

"Hey, Chin. I just pulled up to the scene and Bill says they found some fresh blood on the trail. Could be McGarrett's or his attackers'. It's on its way to the lab right now. So we'll know soon."

"Excellent. Is there anything else you can do there?"

"Probably not, but let me check. I figured I'd stay around for an hour or so unless you need me for something," Lou answered.

"Yeah, if you could get back here soon that'd be great. We're, uh, we're gonna start looking into Amber." Regret could clearly be heard in Chin's voice.

Lou sighed heavily. "Yeah, sure thing. I'll be back soon." Lou didn't want to leave that to the cousins by themselves. He still felt a bit like an outsider sometimes on the team and he thought maybe it was better if he was the one that did it. He'd only met Amber a handful of times and definitely didn't know Danny as well as the cousins. While he could sympathize with Danny as a father, he figured Danny really needed his Ohana with him right now, and Lou wasn't sure if he qualified just yet. He hoped he did, he wanted to, but if digging into Amber's past got them closer to finding Steve he was willing to jeopardize what he may or may not be a part of to help get his friend back. After all, it was what Danny had asked him for.

Lou checked with Bill again but couldn't see any further use for himself at the scene and he wondered why he had driven all the way out here in the first place when a phone call from the crime lab could have accomplished the same thing. He walked back to his truck, replaying the hopeless look on Danny's face that morning as he had asked for one thing, as if it would make the whole world right again: Steve.

…..

"Capitán? Capitán McGarrett, wake up now."

The words were accompanied by a not-so-gentle tapping against his face as he returned to consciousness. Steve realized immediately that there was a gag in his mouth and that he was outside, the sounds of the jungle surrounded him like a blanket. The sun was fully up and it must be late in the morning, if not the afternoon already. Whatever was in that syringe had knocked him out for quite a while. They could be anywhere.

"Capitán, I want you to be awake for this part. I am going to call our friend, Detective Williams, and I am sure that you will be very interested in our conversation." With that, Santos moved away and Steve assumed he was making the phone call, presumably with all the necessary equipment to get a signal out and to make it untraceable. Maybe it had been a bad idea to lead Santos towards these precautions, which were often successful in deterring even the Wonder Twins, Chin and Kono. But if his team knew who had him, they had a better chance of finding him and getting him out of this mess. Steve had been scared shitless when he realized that he had a smart criminal on his hands. But he soon figured out that for as smart as Santos was, he was just as unstable.

Steve's musings were interrupted by Santos' greeting.

"Ah, Detective. It's so good to finally meet you." Steve could imagine Danny's confusion and hoped that he could figure out how Grace was doing through the one-sided conversation. It seemed that Santos wanted him to hear this conversation, just not enough of it to be truly useful to him.

"You may not realize who I am yet, Detective, but I know a lot about you." Okay, he may be a smart criminal, but he was also very stereotypical.

"I am Juan Carlos Santos, Detective Williams." Santos' voice sounded cocky to Steve's ears. And then disappointed when he said, "Ah, so you truly do not know who I am? You have not been doing your homework, Detective." Cocky again. A school teacher chiding an insolent student. Steve hadn't had any clue that this guy existed, so why should Danny? He tested the strength of the two men holding him and wished not for the first time that hoods had never been invented so that he could see something – anything – in order to figure a way out of this before things got worse. He figured that Santos was only standing maybe ten feet away from him, but Steve couldn't tell if there were more than just the two men holding him in the area. This may be his best chance of escape.

"Detective, Marco Reyes was my best friend. We were like brothers. And I am here to make sure that no one will question my leadership of the cartel ever again. When you killed him, Marco didn't suffer. For that I am grateful, but your friend _will_. I want you to _feel_ the pain of losing someone you love, as I have." With the direct threat to his life as the catalyst, Steve ripped himself away from the men holding him and launched his body in the direction of Santos' voice. He didn't have a plan, but he sure as hell didn't want his partner to hear any more of this. Danny would be distraught enough already with Grace, however injured she may be, and the fact that he, Steve, had been missing for probably almost 24 hours by this point.

As Steve broke free of the men holding him, he jostled his broken bone for what felt like the thousandth time and grunted through his gag. He got no further than a couple of steps before he was roughly tackled from behind. Someone grabbed his hair through the hood and bashed his face into the ground. He was instantly dazed and drifted for a while, not really hearing Santos' side of the conversation with his partner. Just catching the occasional word, "…life…ruined…scared…daughter…brain injury…"

Brain injury!

No! No no no no! Gracie had to be okay, she just _had_ to be! Danny would never forgive him. Hell, Steve would never forgive himself either.

He tried to pick his head up off the ground from where the hood was trying to fuse with the dirt, but his hair was grabbed again and his face was shoved deeper into the jungle floor. New tactic. Relax, show that you're not a threat. What could he do from down here anyway? He hadn't gained anything by ripping free and trying to get at Santos.

_That's the right idea SuperSEAL. Intel. You gotta be coherent to know what this guy has coming. _

As Steve stopped resisting the pressure holding his head down, said pressure began to let up. He coughed around the gag as he tried to fill his lungs. Then he heard something that stopped his attempts at breathing – and felt like it stopped his heart as well.

"…a man called Wo Fat."

The world froze. Steve froze. But it was the kind of frozen that comes from complete fear. An animal, having just seen its predator, frozen to the spot and hoping against hope that it won't be pursued.

_Hey, hey Steve! C'mon man, don't check out. You gotta listen, babe. You gotta know what's going on, you haven't heard much of anything. This could be nothing. This could be a bluff. Focus!_

"Detective?" Santos' questioning voice brought Steve back to the moment. Danny-in-his-head was right. He couldn't let himself lose it over merely hearing the man's name, even if it had barely been a week since their final confrontation. "I see that you like my plan, yes? I have a police report, a medical report, and the statement of the Capitán. It is a very interesting read. Perhaps he needs a reminder. A very…realistic reminder."

The SEAL was frozen stiff for another few seconds. After replaying the last words again in his mind, and realizing that he had actually heard them, he completely lost it. Steve choked on the gag in his mouth and started bucking against the men holding him to the ground. This could _not_ be happening.

One of the men kneeled on his back while two more had hold of his arms, pinning them to the ground. He was screaming into the gag and trying with all his might to get free. No! He couldn't do this again! Not so soon. Not again.

_Steve! Babe! Calm down! This isn't helping, you have to be rational! Steve…_

But he was beyond rational. Danny's voice faded away and he struggled frantically and focused on nothing but getting free. His struggle was hopelessly uncoordinated. Another man quickly sat on his legs, and Steve lay there, wounded and full of terror, still trying to flex his muscles and buck his handlers, causing himself more pain in his futile struggle to get free.

Steve eventually exhausted himself and gave up the fight. He lay on the ground, trying not to sob into the gag, but tears leaked out of his eyes no matter how much he tried to stop them. He was incredibly thankful for the hood at the moment, so these men wouldn't see him cry. He was ashamed and embarrassed, but he just couldn't do this again. The drugs, the water-boarding, the damn cattle prod! He just couldn't, not so soon. Not ever!

He never caught the end of the conversation. Never even noticed that it had ended. He let himself drift through a haze of pain as well as sorrow for what was to come. But it was like he wasn't feeling anything anymore. He felt himself being picked up, but he offered no resistance. He had none to give. His feet dragged through the muddy ground but he made no attempt to walk under his own power. He forgot all about his promise not to break, for Danny's sake. There was no strength left, only a muted fear. A fear that there was nothing he could do to stop what was coming.

He was exhausted and weak.

He was resigned to his fate.

...

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

**THIS CHAPTER IS M-RATED**. Again, M-rating people, and not for the faint of heart. My heart was pounding when I wrote it, still is actually, and I had to forcefully convince myself to read it again and again for editing. It was rough.

The fic will be M-rated from here on out. I'll update the rating when I post the next chapter, but I wanted to let you guys know so that if you haven't subscribed, you'll still be able to find it.

I cannot thank you all enough for the reviews. I'm so glad that so many people are enjoying this story. Well, not that anyone is literally enjoying the dark, depressing, horrible, gruesome topics and situations, but I think we all understand my meaning.

SPOILERS for 5.04 and 5.07 from here on out. I'll stop saying it. Disclaimer in Chapter 2.

I would say this chapter is short and sweet (maybe replacing sweet with intense or an adjective more macabre) but I think it's just short because there's so much intensity packed into this thing that no one would survive otherwise. On with the show, and I hope I don't give anyone a panic attack.

Let's all keep cheering on inner-Danny!

* * *

><p>"<em>To correct a natural indifference I was placed half-way between misery and the sun. Misery kept me from believing that all was well under the sun, and the sun taught me that history wasn't everything."<em>

Albert Camus

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><p>CHAPTER 5<p>

"What the hell is this!?" Danny screamed as he walked through the doors to headquarters and three heads turned guiltily towards him like deer caught in the headlights. Deer with their hooves stuck in the cookie jar, too. Very, very guilty deer.

Grace had woken up a few times over the course of the day and the doctors were elated by her progress. Rachel had convinced Danny that he should go home and change, shower, that he'd feel better. She wasn't naïve enough to ask him to get some rest, and he was thankful for that. If Rachel was staying with Grace, Danny felt secure enough to leave her for a little while, although it still pained him and he was still worried for his little girl. He called Amber on the drive home to give her an update, but the conversation felt awkward. Amber didn't really know what to do while Rachel was around, but Danny couldn't concern himself with that complication at the moment. While he was home, Rachel texted him and said that they were taking Grace for some tests and might be a few hours, so he should take his time. She was going down to the cafeteria and would call him if anything came up.

Which led to Danny's current predicament. With an extra hour or so he decided that he needed to stop by HQ and get an update on Steve, or the continued lack of him. Danny wasn't stupid. He knew the procedure, and he knew his own state of mind well enough to know that he was nowhere near capable of taking part in this case as much as it pained him to admit it.

What he never expected in a million years was to see a mugshot of Amber up on the screen when he walked through the doors. What the hell was going on?

The three deer around the smart table were still caught in the headlight that was the furious confusion of the diminutive detective. Danny walked right up to them without saying a word, and all three began to fumble to give some sort of explanation.

"Stop," Danny commanded when he realized that this wasn't starting off well or likely to be very helpful. Rachel was right, the shower and brief respite from the hospital did refresh him significantly. Enough so that he could handle this without falling apart or going berserk.

"Chin. What the hell is going on?" the detective asked, calmly but forcefully, which was far more terrifying than any other tone of voice he could have used. A calm Danny was scary and unpredictable and the other three members of Five-0 were wishing for a rant. It was definitely well-deserved given the circumstances.

"Um…uh. Look, Danny." At any other time Danny would have found the loss of Chin's perpetual zen-like state worthy of marking on a calendar. At the moment though, it frustrated him to Hell and back. "We, uh, we realized that we don't actually know Amber that well, and that she was the only other person besides Steve who knew that Steve would be picking Grace up from school. We had to start somewhere. And frankly, she was dodgy as hell about why she called Steve in the first place. It was the only lead that we had, and even you have to admit, we have to consider it. We have to consider everything, Danny. We've got so little to go on."

"And what, you couldn't consider maybe _asking_ her directly? How about asking _me_? Did you consider that!?" Danny was working himself into a rant, which had an odd comforting effect on his three teammates. "You have to go behind my back like this!? I mean, I realize that I'm not handling things as well as I could be at the moment, but I've got a lot of shit to deal with right now, so I think that's justifiable. My daughter is in the fucking hospital. My partner is missing, for the second time in a fucking week!" Danny realized that he was shouting again but couldn't seem to stop himself, and didn't want to anyway.

"You guys don't trust my judgment!? You think I would introduce someone dangerous to Grace, that I would let her near my daughter if I had the slightest suspicion of her intentions? Are you fucking kidding me!?" Danny seemed to run out of steam and practically deflated like a balloon. He would have dropped all the way to the floor, but the table stopped him halfway there and he grabbed it like a life raft at sea.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. A big hand. He looked up and met Lou's eyes.

"Danny, we knew what we were doing. And we knew that it'd upset you, but we had to do it – for Steve." Lou was looking at him with such sympathy, his very soul apologizing and hurting for Danny.

"Thing is, brah," Chin chimed in, "we found something."

Danny's head snapped up at that.

"What?"

He gazed again at the mugshot that had started this riot. "What is this?"

"Danny," Kono started gently as she walked over and put a hand on his arm. "How much do you know about Amber's past?"

"Well, she just told me about her ex-husband and her divorce. She said she had more to tell me, but that it could wait, that I needed," he paused and swallowed thickly, "that I needed to focus on Grace. God, we didn't even know if she would…" His sentence drifted off as he remembered those horrible first hours. It was still horrible, but now he knew that his daughter would live, that he would still get to hold her in his arms every day and watch her grow up into the beautiful woman he knew she'd be. The fact that he almost lost all of that… And he still didn't know how much he would regain.

"Well," Kono looked around as if asking for permission to continue, unknowingly saving Danny from his dark thoughts, "she was definitely right that there's more to it."

"But Danny, we don't need to go into this right now. We don't think any of it is connected with Steve," Lou interjected, the father in him knowing that Danny didn't need this extra bombshell right now. But the friend in him knew that now the detective wouldn't let it rest, no matter how damaging it would be to his state of mind.

"Lou, there's a mugshot of my girlfriend up on the screen. You had better fucking explain, and you had better do it right now." Danny's words were filled with an uncharacteristic venom, although it wasn't directed at any of them. It was disconcerting nonetheless.

"Danny-" Chin started.

"Don't! Don't even try, Chin Ho Kelly. Just tell me what the hell is going on here," he interrupted.

The three teammates looked at each other again, each wondering if it was really their right to tell Danny this personal information. Especially since it seemed that Amber was willing to tell him herself. The timing was couldn't have been more awful.

"Danny," Chin had finally recovered his zen, thank goodness, "Amber was accused of trying to kill her husband, but it was determined to be self-defense. She and her husband, John Marsden," he paused briefly and an image of the stereotypical brown-haired white male flew up on the screen, "were married for 2 years before the divorce was granted. Amber told the courts that he had started abusing her regularly about a year into the marriage. She also accused him of -" he paused again and looked at Danny, doubtful that he should continue but knew that there was no turning back, "of raping her several times. But without any evidence, just her testimony, there was nothing they could do."

White noise. That was all he heard. He looked at the man on the screen and was filled with such rage, but he was helpless to do anything about it. His muscles wouldn't move. He couldn't even grimace. In fact, he felt suddenly weak. He felt like he was falling, that he would hit the floor at any moment.

Just as he reached the point of no return he felt something hit the back of his knees, and collapsed into the chair that was pushed behind him. Not a moment too soon. A few moments too late if he were honest. His head was pushed down between his knees.

"Danny?"

"Brah?"

…_Danno?_

Who was that? He couldn't sworn that he heard Steve's voice just now.

"Steve?" he asked hopefully out of the blue. A water bottle was pushed into his hands as he surfaced from between his knees, although he still felt like he was drowning.

"No more leads. We're still waiting on the results of the blood they found at the scene," Kono answered, assuming that Danny wanted to move on to the next crisis. "Nothing useful from any of the camera footage either, and we've gone over it –"

"No, not how – I just thought – did you guys hear anything just now?" Danny's thoughts were disjointed and in complete disarray. He knew he wasn't mistaken, that had definitely been Steve. After all, he was the only one that called him Danno, well, besides… "No one called me 'Danno' just now?" It hurt to say it out loud. He didn't yet know if he would ever hear Grace call him that again. He was overcome by the urge to race to the hospital just to see her and hold her.

The cousins and Lou looked at each other, suddenly becoming very concerned for their friend.

"Danny, are you alright, brah?" Chin asked as he took the water bottle from Danny's shaking hands, opened it, and handed it back. When Danny stared at it like it was an alien artifact he gently directed it closer to his mouth and tipped it up until Danny's instincts kicked in.

Kono was rubbing soothing circles on his back as he took a sip of water. "I'm fine, well, not _fine _obviously, but – I just – I could have sworn I heard Steve's voice just now." He looked at each of them in turn, knowing that he sounded crazy, but also knowing that none of them would judge him for it.

There was silence in the large room as everyone was lost in his or her own thoughts for a moment. Surprisingly, it was Danny who gathered himself enough to speak up again. "We've really got nothing? No idea what this is all about?" He looked into each of this friend's eyes, desperate for some hope. He was running dishearteningly low on that resource at the moment and would do anything to be able to soak up some hope or confidence from the team. But there was nothing. No one knew how to comfort Danny, especially not after the bombshell they had just dropped on him. Lou and Chin suspected that he hadn't even started processing the information on Amber yet and that he wouldn't for some time. Kono just felt completely overwhelmed and so sorry for everything that was being heaped on Danny right now.

"Guys," Danny pleaded. His voice continued to fade until he sounded like a lost little boy, far from home and with no hope that he would ever see his parents again. "There's got to be something. We can't just leave him out there. He just – he literally _just_ did this. We just got him back." Danny stared straight ahead in horror, realizing just how awful this must be for Steve. But there was no more room for horror in Danny's soul at the moment. At least he thought so in that moment.

When Danny's phone started ringing the depressing conversation was abruptly cut off before it had even started, which no one was sorry for. Danny hopped out of the chair and grabbed his phone like it was a live grenade, assuming it would be Rachel calling from the hospital. The team looked on with apprehension and sympathy. Always sympathy, he was never going to escape it.

Danny's face morphed into one of confusion as the word 'RESTRICTED' flashed on the screen, but picked it up regardless. "Detective Williams," he stated, trying not to sound as utterly confused as he actually was.

"Ah, Detective. It's so good to finally meet you," said a heavily accented, but completely unfamiliar voice.

"Hello, who is this?" Danny looked in confusion at his friends now standing around the table and received questioning looks in return. The overwhelming sympathy was still obvious just under the surface.

"You may not realize who I am yet, Detective, but I know a lot about you," the disembodied voice was starting to sound very sinister. Danny had no idea what this could be about, and in response to the frantic gesturing by Kono he finally put the phone on speaker and set it on the smart table.

"What is this about? Who are you?" Danny demanded, feeling stronger by the minute as his confusion morphed into anger.

"I am Juan Carlos Santos, Detective Williams." The voice waited a beat while the members of Five-0 all looked at each other blankly. "Ah, so you truly do not know who I am? You have not been doing your homework, Detective."

Danny was distracted for a moment by the cousins who had started typing frantically into the computer. A face popped up on the screen, over the top of Amber's mugshot and the photo of her ex-husband, but no one recognized it. "What the hell is this about?" Danny practically growled into the phone, just as a picture of Marco Reyes popped up on the screen next to Santos, the cousins having discovered some connection. The blonde detective felt like someone had poured a bucket of ice water over his head as he stood frozen to the spot. Or maybe it was boiling water. He couldn't tell up from down anymore and he certainly couldn't feel anything at the moment let alone tell the difference between hot and cold. The white noise that he had just banished was starting to return.

"Detective, Marco Reyes was my best friend. We were like brothers. And I am here to make sure that no one will question my leadership of the cartel ever again. When you killed him, Marco didn't suffer. For that I am grateful, but your friend _will_. I want you to _feel_ the pain of losing someone you love, as I have."

There was a break in the threatening monologue and what could have been a scuffle in the background.

"But I did, Santos! I did! Reyes killed my brother Matty. Please, you don't have to do this! I've suffered, _believe_ me I've suffered. I'm suffering right now! My daughter is in the hospital with a brain injury. She may not ever be the same. She might not ever recover completely. Please, just let Steve go," Danny pleaded, his voice becoming gloomier and quieter by the moment as it transformed into undisguised begging. "Just let him go and we'll let you leave the island and we won't come after you. Please, I'm begging you, just let him go." Danny looked across the table at the cousins, wide-eyed and fearful. They met his gaze briefly and then returned their attention to the smart table, frantically trying to get a successful trace. Lou unconsciously began scooting closer to the smaller detective but didn't have any clue what he was planning to do.

"No, no, Detective. That will not be good enough for me. I want to _see_ you suffer. I want to watch you fall apart! I want to watch as your life is ruined as mine was."

Danny just stood by the smart table, or more likely the table was supporting him at this point for the second time in just as many minutes. Somewhere in the depths of his well-trained mind he knew that he had to keep Santos on the line so that the cousins could trace the call. They were still working frantically, but it seemed like Danny was watching them work underwater. Everything seemed muffled and far away. He couldn't think of a single thing to say to the man who held his partner.

"Detective? Ah, you are scared now. You know that this is real, yes?" Santos paused a beat and still with no answer from Danny continued. "You see, at first I wanted your daughter. What better way to hurt a man than through his daughter?"

Danny came alive again at this. No one threatened his Gracie! "You stay away from her you scumbag! I will not let you harm one hair on her head, you hear me!?" he shouted, suddenly coming back to himself, out of the water, into the realm of feelings once more.

Santos' disembodied voice chuckled for all to hear. "Oh, but I already have, Detective. And while I lament that she could not join the Capitán, you say she has a brain injury, yes? Well good, it is what I could hope for."

"You slimy, son of a bitch! When I-" Danny started on another heated rant but Santos cut him off.

"Well, once I knew that the Capitán would be our guest instead, I found some very interesting information from a recent, how shall I say, altercation with a man called Wo Fat."

At those words, Danny's heart didn't just drop into his stomach. It didn't bother to take the stairs or even the elevator. It just plummeted all the way down to what felt like the center of the Earth, and then all the way out the other side. He couldn't move. He didn't dare breathe. He didn't even notice the lack of movement in the room. Chin and Kono were both frozen over the smart table, staring at each other in muted horror. Lou looked like he wanted to shout something, but didn't want to let Santos know he was there, that there were frantically trying to trace his call. Instead, the former SWAT captain stood like a fish out of water, his mouth gaping until he remembered to close it every few seconds before it opened again.

No one moved. No one spoke.

This couldn't be happening.

"Detective?" the sick voice finally roused the horrified team. It would have been more humane to leave them frozen. Chin and Kono resumed their work on the table, albeit more slowly and very distracted. "I see that you like my plan, yes?" Danny swallowed what felt like a grenade lodged in his throat and began to breathe in heavy gasps, intuition letting him know what was coming. "I have a police report, a medical report, and the statement of the Capitán. It is a very interesting read. Perhaps he needs a reminder. A very…realistic reminder." At this, Lou suddenly came back to life and ran to his office in record time. Danny couldn't be bothered to wonder why, not with the bombshell of horror that had just been dropped into their laps. And just when he thought he couldn't take anymore…

"What…why? Why are you doing this?" Was that small, broken voice really his? He didn't even realize that he had spoken.

"I have already said Detective, you must suffer. You must suffer more than any man has for the crimes you have committed. You come into my country. You kill my friend, my brother. My family is dead because of you. I control the cartel now, and I will not let this happen again. Not to anyone I love, or who love me. This will teach you, yes? You say that you have learned, but you have not. I do not think you have suffered as I have. This will make you suffer."

The almost imperceptible click of a dropped call echoed louder than a sonic boom through the Five-0 headquarters.

...

**An undetermined amount of time later…**

_... _

_Knock knock._

_Who's there?_

_Moo._

_Moo who?_

_Hey, are you a cow or an owl? You can't be both. _

…

_Here's another one. Why didn't Cinderella make the baseball team?_

_Gee, Danno, I dunno, why not?_

_Cuz she kept running away from the ball!_

…

_How about this one. _

_Two cannibals were eating a clown. One cannibal turned to the other and said, "Hey, does this taste funny to you?"_

…

_Oh, you'll love this one!_

_Two fish were sitting in a tank. One fish turned to the other and said, "I'll drive. You man the guns!"_

_Hahaha, get it!? It's not a fish tank, but a _tank_ tank, right! _

_Steve?_

_Hey, hey babe, c'mon. Wake up. Steven? You there?_

_Ugh, of course you would wake up to the tank joke. You Army guys are all the same. _

'_Navy_, Danny' Steve groaned. His head was hanging on his chest and when he tried to open his eyes he felt the gummy accumulation that comes from the aftermath of tears or extended sleep, in this case both. Steve squeezed his eyes shut tighter at the memory of earlier, refusing to face the world for a few more seconds. He couldn't believe that he'd lost it like that. He felt his cheeks burning with shame and tears pricked his eyes again at the thought of how weak he'd been. How weak he _was_.

_Hey! Cut that shit out right now, Steven! Cut it the fuck out and never think that again! You hear me!? How could you?_

Steve turned his head away as if Danny were really there with him and he was avoiding eye contact. He wanted to bury his face in his hands and hide from the world, but was brutally reminded of the impossibility of that action when his wrists were reacquainted with the restraints. He squeezed his eyes shut even tighter and fisted his hands, wishing that he could hit something out of anger for his weakness.

_Steve. Oh, babe. _

Danny-in-his-head sounded sad. Incredibly, undeniably sad.

_Steven. It's not weakness, I swear. I would never lie to you. You're the strongest person I know. Look at everything you've done in your life! Look at everything you've already made it through. _

"That's just it, Danno. I don't know if I can do this again," Steve replied aloud with a small, broken voice, forgetting for a moment that his best friend wasn't really there with him.

_Fuck that, Steven. You've got something important to make it back to. More important than you've ever had before. More important than even last week, alright? There's a little girl who's going to need to see your shining face every day to help her get better. And I happen to know this other guy that's going to need your strength, too. He's not gonna need you to be strong for him, that's a bit much to ask given the circumstances, but he's gonna need to you to make it through this so that _he_ can make it through this. Alright? You get me, Steven?_

Steve swore that he could see Danny's hand making dramatic circles in the air and that he heard his partner sigh after he'd finished his little pep talk.

_You've got a job to do here. And you've gotta do it better than you've ever done it before. And I'm not going anywhere, babe. Alright? I'll be right here, the whole time. Don't forget that, okay? Please, please don't ever forget that. _

Danny's voice sounded so sincere. And so… desperate. Needy. Like it was as necessary as breathing for Steve to know that he couldn't afford to give up. Like it would be the end of everything if he did.

...

TBC

Well… at least they have each other?


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: **Woohoo, I got over 100 reviews! I never thought I'd see that happen… ever. Thank you all so much for your unwavering support. It really spurs me on. Apparently very literally, too, because this chapter just wrote itself and couldn't wait to be published.

I want to profusely apologize that I didn't do an acceptable job with warnings at the beginning of the last chapter. I never mentioned anything about rape being part of the content, and I'm incredibly, incredibly sorry if that caught anyone off guard or upset anyone. From here on out, I'll include warnings at the BOTTOM of the page so that you can choose to forewarn yourself, or you can choose to get punched in the gut repeatedly by my dastardly plot.

Surprisingly, no warnings for this chapter. Let's all give our hearts a break from the deadly sprint that they've been involved in from the beginning and soak up the love and comfort that our boys give each other from afar.

* * *

><p>CHAPTER 6<p>

The return to consciousness was slow. Slower than he assumed it would have been anyway.

He first became aware of an annoying feeling on his fingertip and soon realized it was a pulse-ox monitor, which he only knew because his Neanderthal partner got injured so often. He had become eerily familiar with the various equipment utilized by hospitals over the last four years. Not to mention knowing every detail about every piece of equipment that was hooked up to his daughter at the moment…

"Gracie!"

Danny sat up in bed like a bolt of lightning. Kono, who was slumped over in a chair beside his bed, jumped like she received an electric shock.

"Danny!" she responded, equally surprised at his abrupt return to consciousness.

"Hey, settle down, you're okay," was her stereotypical and completely unhelpful response.

"What…what happened?" he asked, finally opening his eyes and looking around at the equally stereotypical hospital room.

"Um…you, uh, you kinda passed out, brah," Kono said as she placed a hand on his arm.

"Kono, that hardly warrants a hospital stay." Danny's confused mind was trying to remember what the hell was going on. But then he saw the sympathetic look on Kono's face as she tried not to look him in the eye and it all came flooding back to him.

Reyes!Steve!Santos!torture!Wo Fat!Grace!Columbia!suffering!

The force of the memories almost knocked him sideways. In fact it knocked him back into the pillows where he slumped and buried his face in his hands, breathing heavily.

Kono was alarmed when her older friend literally turned white before her eyes. She stood quickly and felt around for the nurse's call button, hoping that she wouldn't have to use it.

"Danny, brah, calm down. You have to breath, brah. Slow, deep breaths, okay? Good." When Kono was satisfied that he was calm again, she continued. "Danny, you didn't just pass out. Well, you didn't even really pass out at all, not for a bit anyway. After the call with Santos," she paused and looked at him pointedly to see if he even remembered that happening, "you were completely unresponsive. It was like you didn't even react to what had just happened, you just shut down so completely. We didn't know what to do. Well, we were all in shock, but it's like you weren't even there anymore. Then you mumbled something and walked away. Chin found you puking your guts out in the bathroom and then you…well, he says you fainted." Kono looked away when she said this. But it wasn't out of pity, at least Danny didn't think so.

Danny was immediately suspicious. "Kono, what's wrong?" he asked, acutely aware of the rookie's avoidance. Well, she wasn't really a rookie after four years, but he would always think of her that way. Technically, Lou was the rookie now. He almost smiled at the thought, but then remembered that he still had no clue what was going on and that this was no time for humor.

"I'm out too," she said and looked incredibly ashamed. "We're totally sidelined, brah. Duke took one look at me and drove me straight here, told me to keep an eye on you. But I know it was a dismissal. I'll keep a line between you and Rachel and let you know how Grace is, though. That's the upside. Amber was by earlier. We didn't tell her anything, she doesn't know anything about what we told you. Lou and Chin aren't holding up much better, either. They don't blame me, and especially not you. This is just too much – no one is equipped to handle this."

That was a lot of information for Danny to try to organize, especially after he just woke up and felt like he'd been hit by a truck. "Wait…what?"

Kono sighed and sat back down. She was skipping around too much and didn't even know how much Danny remembered. Of course he would be confused. She started again, hoping to avoid her own faux pas this time around. "What do you remember?"

Danny hesitated for a moment, pondering the question, then felt an incredible guilt that filled him and washed away every other emotion. "Santos has Steve." Then after a beat he added, "It's all my fault." He looked straight at Kono, his eyes as big as saucers, tears pooling at the bottom.

"Danny," Kono said with exasperation, once again avoiding his gaze. "God, Danny. You can't think like that. I don't – I don't even know what to say anymore." She sat there, looking younger than her years. Danny felt pity for her, being in this tough situation.

"Just walk me through it. What happened after he hung up?" he asked while she hesitated. "C'mon, I've got to know," he added, hoping that he would be able to forgive himself for what he was about to hear.

"Fine. Okay." Kono shifted in her chair, clearly uncomfortable with where this conversation was headed, and full of regret that she had to be the one to do it. "Santos hung up, and we all stood there for a while. Just…standing. Well, not Lou. He ran to his office and called Kamekona immediately, told him to keep a sharp eye out for anyone suspicious buying the drugs that Wo Fat used on Steve, and anyone suspicious trying to buy a… cattle prod." Kono winced when she said this and refused to meet Danny's eyes, but she continued. "Then I guess he called Duke, or HPD and Duke was the one who showed up, or something like that. You," she poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher by his beside and took a sip, "well, all of us; you, me, and Chin, we just stood there. Like a bunch of idiots. At some point you just turned around and walked away. Chin said you were trying to puke your stomach out in the bathroom. I only really know that Duke came up to me and led me down to his car and drove me here. I guess they called a bus for you. You were really bad off. The docs told us that your blood pressure was through the roof and that you were dehydrated and in shock. You've been here, hooked up to an IV for about four hours now," she finished sadly.

"Four hours!" Danny exclaimed. "I have to go see Grace! I have to-"

"Danny, stop!" Kono shouted, hoping that she wouldn't have to physically restrain him. "Grace is doing okay. The tests this afternoon went well. Her doctor is going to come by and give you an update soon, we had to wait for you to wake up first, and you were sleeping like the dead. I'll go out to the desk in a minute and let them know. Okay? But you've got to promise to stay put, alright?" she pleaded with him.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever," replied Danny, extremely distracted. He was running over everything in his mind, embarrassed. Had he really freaked out like that? Totally lost it?

"Four hours, Kono?" he asked as if he were hoping it wasn't the truth. "What's wrong with me?"

Kono opened her mouth to answer, but realized she had no idea how to respond to that question and ended up just squeezing his forearm tightly, and didn't let go.

"I'm gonna go let the nurses know that you've woken up, and that you'd like Grace's doctor to come and talk to you. I'll let Rachel and Amber and the team know as well." She gave his arm an even tighter squeeze and stood up to leave the room.

But suddenly Danny didn't want to be alone. Almost more than he wanted anything else he wanted Kono to stay with him right now. As she let go of his arm he grabbed her hand and held it tightly. Danny looked in her eyes and looked like he wanted to say something, but he just held tight instead. Their hands were a lifeline and Danny didn't know what would happen if he let go. His world was falling apart around him, couldn't she see that? Why would she leave him? He stared at Kono for a long minute.

Finally, she gave him another sympathetic look and said, "I'll be right back. Two minutes, tops," gave his hand a final squeeze and left him alone with his thoughts.

His dark, depressing, guilty thoughts. Of those he had a plethora. But he didn't get a chance to think them all. Danny felt himself getting tired again and he wondered why he felt so sore and wrung out. His last thoughts were of his daughter as he sank back into the pillows and fell back into a restless sleep.

...

In – two three four.

Hold – two three four.

Out – two three four.

In – two three four. Hold – two three four. Out – two three four.

_Steve?_

In – two three four. Hold – two three four. Out – two three four.

_Hey, Steven! Babe, what the hell are you doing?_

'Breathing, Danno. Leave me alone. Gotta focus,' he replied to the voice in his head.

In – two three four. Hold – two three four. Out – two three four.

_You think that's actually helping? Doesn't look like it me. You're shaking like a leaf, babe. Talk to me. _

'It's a technique to combat stress. This is a stressful situation. I'm combating it.'

In – two three four. Hold – two three four.

_Babe, I don't think it's helping much. I'm inside your head, and I can tell your heart is pounding like a herd of stampeding rhinos. _

He blew out the rest of his breath heavily. 'Danno, what the hell do you want me to do? Santos is probably out there, picking up everything he needs to torture me in the exact same way that Wo Fat did. He's gotta go get a fun drug cocktail, find a cattle prod somewhere and make sure that he's got a good supply of water for the waterboarding. If I'm really lucky, maybe there's power out here and he'll show me some video clips to make my life even more unbearable. Is this better? Am I more calm now that I'm talking about my impending torture!?' Steve shouted at Danny-in-his-head.

_Sorry, babe. I don't really know how to help. But I know dwelling on what's coming isn't going to help at all. Settle down. I'm sorry, alright. _

'Then what do you suggest?'

_Well, let's keep trying to figure out Santos. What's his deal? Why does he seem a bit unstable? How can we use that?_

'We?'

_Hey, I'm here to stay whether you like it or not, okay, Steven? So let's figure this out._

Now that breathing was the out of the question, since Danny's voice wouldn't let him focus on it anyway, Steve decided to catalogue everything he knew about Santos and try to figure out what he didn't know.

He was Marco Reyes' best friend. He wanted to cause Danny so much pain, which he was going to accomplish by kidnapping Gracie and…

Steve cut himself off from that thought. He couldn't go down that road. It didn't lead anywhere good.

So Santos was stuck with Steve instead to use in order to hurt Danny. Which Steve was incredibly thankful for, and Danny probably was too. Oh, Danny would hate himself for having that thought. But Steve was trained for this. It was okay, better that it was him and not Grace. It was the cold hard truth and Steve didn't have to like it, but he was glad for it, regardless.

_The phone call. Think back to what he said when he called me._

Okay. Hmm. He said that Reyes was his best friend. Like his brother. He said he controlled the cartel and he wanted Danny to suffer. A lot. There was a lot of talk of suffering. Steve couldn't help but be biased and think that he'd gotten the shorter end of the stick. Oh course he understood that this would tear Danny apart, especially with Grace also being injured. But Steve was so very aware of the pain that he was about to face, and it was horrifying.

_Don't go there, Steven. Back to the phone call, babe, let's go. _

Oh! He said something like, 'my family is dead because of you.' Did Santos mean that Reyes was his only family, or was there something more to that statement? Was it worth digging into or would it cause Santos to become more unstable, and therefore cause Steve more pain?

And how the hell did he get his hands on the police report, or the medical report!? That was a serious breach in security. Was someone on the inside helping him? If Santos was the new leader of the cartel like he claimed, he must have unlimited money and means to get things done.

_Alright, there may be something there, babe. We'll have to wait to find out. How about we put together a plan of action?_

'But you told me not to think about what's coming up, Danno,' Steve pointed out, slightly mocking. It was almost fun, the banter between them. It seemed incredibly normal, and Danny was right, it was calming him down a lot better than the breathing technique had.

_Yeah, well, who isn't a hypocrite at some point in their life? Guilty as charged. _

Steve laughed at that. It was just so _Danny_. He didn't really understand why this was happening. He was literally having full-on, no holds barred conversations with his partner inside of his own head. It would be disconcerting if it weren't so comforting. Maybe it was the stress of the situation that was making him conjure it up. Whatever. Steve didn't want to explore it too much for fear that Danny-in-his-head might disappear, and that wouldn't leave him all alone with nothing to save his sanity…unless his sanity was already gone. This was so confusing.

_Whatever, Rambo. I already told you, I'm here to stay. _

Steve smirked at that, but it disappeared just as quickly. 'Danno, what if he gets the right drugs? What if I hallucinate my dad again, or something worse? Will you still be here?'

_I honestly don't know, Steve. All I know is that I'll be here when you get back, and that's Danno's 100% Guarantee. _

'Man, those are serious.' Steve remembered the last time Danny had given "Danno's 100% Guarantee". It was to Gracie for the father-daughter dance and it had almost been defeated by a suicide bomber in the international marketplace. That was such a stressful day. It was when Danny first told him about his partner in Jersey, Grace. And the tragic story of where he was on September 11th. Borrowed time, Danny had said. He was already on borrowed time.

Well then what the hell kind of time did that make _this_? He should have been done for after Wo Fat, or Afghanistan, or any number of his missions with the SEALs.

_Strawberry Fields?_

'Leave it, Danno! It's classified.'

_I'm in your head, Steven. You don't think I can poke around and find out for myself?_

'Really helpful, Danno. Thank you for being such a great and considerate friend right now,' Steve snarked back.

_Love you, too, big guy._

Ugh, Steve could practically hear the sarcastic smile in Danny's voice. Despite where his thoughts had led him, Steve was still comforted by Danno's 100% Guarantee.

Steve didn't remember the trip back into the bunker. He had no clue where they'd been to make the phone call either. He didn't want to think back on that shameful moment in his history right now anyway. But he'd been sitting in the dark in this room with only Danny for company for at least an hour. Steve really wished he could get rid of this damn hood. He didn't even know what Santos looked like, might never know. That didn't sit well with him. It dramatically lowered his chances of escape, too. Well, the restraints were a better deterrent than the hood any day, and he sure wasn't getting out of those anytime soon. Wo Fat's restraints never broke, it was the chair breaking around them that had released Steve from them. He couldn't see this chair, but it seemed sturdier than the last one.

Steve was starting to realize how different this was going to be; how unlike every other unfortunate run-in with torture he'd had in his life. Santos wasn't looking for information. Santos didn't want anything from him except for him to suffer and break. Steve didn't know how to fight that, didn't know how to not break or not give-in to his captors when he wasn't fighting against anything in the first place.

He was just going to feel pain. Useless, purposeless pain.

That didn't sit well with him.

That didn't sit well with him at all.

...

When he next woke up, Chin was sitting by his bedside, looking threadbare and distressed, which was really saying something, because it was _Chin_.

"Mmmhh," he tried to clear his throat to let Chin know he was awake, but all that came out was a raspy grumble. It had about the same effect.

"Danny, hey," Chin said as he reached for the water glass on the bedside table. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got run over by a truck," Danny answered without humor. "How long?"

Chin didn't need to clarify what he was asking. "You slept through the night, brah."

Even though he just woke up, Danny didn't feel like he had enough energy to respond to that statement. He didn't feel like he had the energy to do much of anything at all. So he didn't respond. Not even a twitch. Not a sound.

This situation was entirely, completely his fault.

Danny had voluntarily attended more than a few therapy sessions since Matty's death, and had been coming around to the idea that the situation was out of his control, that he couldn't have saved his brother and that it wasn't actually his fault. But now everything he had learned, all the progress that he'd made, it was all washed down the drain in an instant when he picked up the phone and Santos was on the other end.

_Stop it, Danno. You don't wanna go down this road, man. You gotta keep it together…for Grace._

"Did you say something?" Danny asked Chin out of the blue.

The older detective had been letting Danny sort through his thoughts for a moment and neither of them had said a word until Danny broke the silence.

"Nothing, brah. I didn't say anything."

Danny, however, still looked suspicious.

"Look, Danny," Chin started, sounding like he was steeling himself for a doozy of a conversation. He ignored whatever weirdness was going on with Danny hearing things. "What really happened in Columbia?"

The ice water returned to his veins. Danny felt cold all over, but could tell that he'd broken out in a sweat. He and Steve had agreed on an abridged version of events to tell the team. It's not that they didn't trust Chin, Kono and Grover. More that they wanted to keep them safe from being involved in any way, or give them the chance to be able to honestly deny any knowledge of the events.

The events being the cold-blooded murder Danny had committed.

He and Steve hadn't really talked about it since. Sure there was the funeral, and Steve had bugged him plenty about that. Like a good friend, Danny thought as he looked back on it. But he didn't let Steve in. Didn't let him help. After that the team had been caught up in a few more cases and then everything happened to Steve in that torture chamber with his nemesis. It was like something out of a bad movie. It was –

_Danno, shut up. And tell Chin what's going on. I thought you only talked a lot out loud. I had no idea it was this bad in your head as well. And you think _I'm_ strange? C'mon, buddy, you know you can trust Chin. You've got to tell him everything. They need to know. And given current events, they _deserve_ to know. _

Danny frowned, listening to the words bouncing around in his head. He swore it was Steve, it sounded just like him. But that was crazy. Or maybe he was crazy.

_Jesus, Danny. Sometime today would be great!_

Sheesh, fine. He would listen to the voice in his head, but just this once!

"Chin, I – I don't really know where to start. Um," Danny swallowed thickly and preoccupied himself with the sheet pulled up to his waist. He wouldn't look his friend in the eye right now. He worried at the cheap cloth between his fingers, resembling a distracted grade school child wishing he were anywhere but the classroom.

"Well, you and Steve told us that you went to Columbia to get Matt back, that he was… that he was dead when you got there, and that you had to fight your way out. And that you personally killed Santos in the firefight," Chin started for him. "Now, none of us quite believe that that's what actually happened. But we all respect you enough to accept that you guys told us that for a reason, probably to protect us. But Danny, we know it's not the full truth and if we're ever going to get Steve back, we _need_ to know what really happened in Columbia," Chin implored.

Chin was so calm and quiet about it, like it didn't really upset him that he'd been lied to by the people he trusted most in the world. It was disconcerting and Danny felt even worse that he and Steve had thought that the lie had ever been necessary.

"Well," Danny started again, his voice flat and emotionless, "It happened pretty much like that actually. Steve and I carried the money to this shady bar in the middle of the day. We were led down to a creepy, dark basement. Reyes," he grimaced when he said the name, "was seated at this little table like it was a fucking throne. Said that we'd barely made it, had just one hour to spare. If it wasn't for Steve," tears filled the detective's eyes as he recalled how his partner had been there every step of the way, "if it wasn't for him, we never would have made it in time. Not that it would have mattered," he added bitterly. "Reyes checked the money and then told me that I could have my brother back. I – I called out to Matty, to let him know that I was there, that we came for him." Danny squeezed his eyes shut at the tears that threatened to fall overboard as he relived one of the worst moments of his life.

_C'mon, Danno. Keep going. I was there with you then, and I'm here with you now. You got this, buddy. _

Steve's voice, whether real or imagined, gave Danny the push he needed to continue. He looked over at Chin, sitting patiently but tensely beside the bed.

"They rolled him out in a fucking barrel."

He didn't say anything else for a while, and Chin didn't press. But eventually he surfaced from his thoughts and told Chin what he needed to hear. "I kinda – I lost it a bit and Reyes' thugs had to hold me back. I think they clocked Steve with the barrel of a gun, but he never said anything. I saw blood in his hair later, but I wasn't – I didn't say anything about it. I was – anyway, Reyes said we'd saved our own lives by repaying him, or something, and that if we didn't take – take Matty with us and get out, then he'd keep coming for me. He threatened Gracie, Chin. He threatened my daughter. I told him, right then I told him that if I ever saw him again I would put a bullet in his head.

"Steve and I were led back upstairs. I think Steve might have been as pissed as I was once Reyes mentioned Grace. He looked at me and did this sorta nod thing, and I knew what we were gonna do. We, uh, we took all the guys out, killed most of them I think. I don't know how we didn't get shot. Then I got a gun, and Chin, I didn't even think about it. I just marched right back down the stairs. I marched right back into that dungeon and put the gun to Reyes' head. He never – he didn't even say anything. He had his eyes closed, the bastard. I yelled at him to look at me. 'Look at me!' I said. And, and I said 'What did I just tell you? What did I just say to you?' And once he looked at me, once I looked him right in the eyes, the man who killed my brother, I just – I pulled the trigger, Chin. I killed him in cold blood. I killed him because he killed Matty, and because he threatened Gracie. I see his eyes every night in my sleep, I see his scared face. But I'm glad I did it. Well, I was. I guess now my other brother is going to be killed because of my actions. Steve is gonna die because of me," Danny finished. Retelling the story had exhausted him beyond belief. If anyone had asked, he would have turned down seeing Grace right now because he was such a wreck.

"I'm a murderer, Chin. But I keep wearing the badge. I don't know what to do anymore," Danny looked Chin in the eyes and saw something there that he didn't expect: understanding. And not just understanding in that Chin recognized why Danny did what he did or thought he was validated, especially given the threat to Grace. No, this was a deeper understanding. Danny furrowed his eyes and focused a questioning gaze on the other man. The tables were turned now, and Danny sensed that Chin was about to follow up Danny's confession with one of his own.

Chin looked out the window for some time and fidgeted in his chair for a moment. But being the collected soul that he was, he composed himself quickly and dived right in. "I killed Delano."

When, after a long moment, Chin didn't offer anything more Danny responded, "I know that, Chin, but it's not the same. You were in a shootout at the time." As soon as the words left his mouth, Danny realized what Chin was really saying.

"No, Danny… we weren't. He, uh – his gun jammed. Aimed his gun at me and it just clicked. Maybe it was out of bullets. I don't know. I would have been dead if he'd had a single bullet left. Point blank range. But I didn't care. I almost welcomed it. But when I realized he was defenseless, and I'd already hit him, he was lying on the ground bleeding, I just stood over him for a minute. He actually challenged me, you know? The bastard told me that I wouldn't shoot an unarmed man. He was about to repeat it when I pulled the trigger."

Danny didn't know what to say. Both men sat in silence, staring at their hands.

"I've never told anyone before," Chin said, and it seemed to Danny that this was his real confession. "But you needed to hear it. We've both done things we're not proud of, but we're still good people, Danny. You're still a good cop."

"I don't know about that," he denied. After a beat he added, "I'm sorry you had to go through that alone. I get – I know how horrible it feels. But I had Steve, he knew. You just -," Danny paused and had another thought. "You understand why we did it then, why we lied."

It was a statement, not a question, and Chin just looked at him and nodded his head solemnly.

Both men sat there, thankful for the others man's presence and the mutual understanding that they had come to.

_Good job, Danno. See, that wasn't so hard, was it? Now, ask him about me!_

Steve-in-his-head sounded like a little child begging for attention. Regardless, Danny obliged because Steve-in-his-head had a damn good point.

"Where are we with Steve? And who the hell is this Santos guy?" asked Danny.

"Nothing and nowhere, that's where we are. Sorry, Danny," Chin realized that he was being insensitive. "Well, we did get a hit on the blood from the accident scene, over where we think Steve fought someone. Some gun-for-hire that Santos brought with him from Columbia as far as we can tell. No address here, no information on him at all really. It doesn't tell us anything new, just that Santos brought his own guys with him, so hopefully that will help Kamekona get something on them. They aren't going to know the island, or at least one of them won't. We don't know if Santos has hired any locals. HPD is also coordinating with some agencies in Columbia to figure out what the hell happened after you guys left. HPD is taking the lead on this one, by the way," Chin added, watching to see how Danny took that information.

"Yeah, Kono told me. At least, I think she did. Said she was sidelined."

"Yeah, she, uh – she didn't handle it too well. The phone call I mean. Well, none of us did. Lou was the only one who did anything about it. I just stood there, looping the scene in my head when we found Steve a week ago. And Wo Fat with the hole in his forehead. We thought it was over…" his voice trailed off.

Danny didn't want to relive that scene again, so he said, "Be honest with me, Chin. Why am I really in the hospital? I mean, if I just passed out you guys could've sat me on the couch in Steve's office for an hour or two and then smacked me around until I woke up. What's going on here?"

Chin shifted in his seat. "Well, brah, you _did_ pass out. Just not for a while. After you puked up everything and then dry heaved for a few more minutes," well, that explained the soreness, "you were just – gone. It was like you were catatonic or something. Your eyes were open, but there was no one home. I'm sorry, brah, but I just didn't know what else to do. Hell, there was nothing I _could_ do. So I called for a bus, and you passed out a few minutes before they got there." Chin looked embarrassed to tell him this, but Danny couldn't tell what it was embarrassment _for_. For the fact that Danny completely shut down and couldn't handle the information he'd been given? The fact that they'd all stood around like idiots when they should have been trying to find Steve? Did Chin feel bad that he'd put Danny in this awkward situation and now his breakdown was semi-public and he'd probably have to talk to a shrink to get out of this bed?

Not that he actually felt like getting out of bed any time soon. He was still weirdly tired.

Well, this conversation had taken a lot out of him.

"How's Grace? Kono said the doc was supposed to come talk to me, but I guess I fell asleep again. Some father I am," he added with disdain.

"Hey, now, none of that. You're a great father and you know it. We all think so. And I don't think anyone should be expected to handle that much horrible information and still be functioning correctly afterwards. I'll go ask about the doc now. Grace is doing pretty well, considering. I don't think she's really said much yet, but she's woken up quite a few times, and the doctors all seem pretty pleased. They don't seem to be worried about anything major. I'll go talk to the desk, see what we can find out," Chin said as he stood and turned to head out the door.

"Chin," Danny called to stop him from leaving just yet. "Um. Thanks. For – for everything. And, I'm sorry."

"No worries, brah. It's in the past. We've got to worry about the present now." Chin stated it like it was an order.

"Yeah. We do," Danny agreed. Chin gave him a tiny, distracted smile and walked out the door.

Danny fiddled with his IV for a moment and tracked it up to the bag of Saline it was attached to. Catatonic? That was no good. But of course he wouldn't have handled all of that information well. No one would handle it well. And Danny was far more concerned about the phone call from Santos than he was learning about Amber's situation. He didn't know what kind of person that made him, though. He didn't really know what to make of anything anymore.

_Danno, if you start thinking horrible thoughts, I'm gonna ninja escape from wherever I am and come and kick your ass until you cut it out. You got that, brother?_

'Sure thing, brother' Danny replied to Steve-in-his-head. As disconcerting as he found it, hearing Steve's voice in his head, he also thought it was comforting. A bit of light in the void of darkness that he was enveloped in. The void that he couldn't see an escape from.

...

TBC

Up next, the break is over and the action and horror will return tenfold next chapter. But I hope that you can wait in peace after this somewhat calm and comforting chapter, like a beacon of hope in a sea of darkness.


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** Thank you so much for all of the flattering reviews! I am very grateful for every single one I receive. Especially all the love and compliments for the Danny and Steve voices! I have a feeling I'll be getting some hate mail after this chapter though…

I've also belatedly decided to hold back on the M-rating until the later chapters, seeing as how I'm essentially repeating what was aired on network TV for the moment. But I still plan on going darker…later.

Strong language. Warnings at the bottom for those who want to be prepared or maybe just want to have a weapon against the heartache I'm about to release on the world.

* * *

><p>CHAPTER 7<p>

The door squeaking open roused Steve from his fitful sleep. It seemed like several hours that he had been alone in the room, but he could no longer be sure after his impromptu nap which Danny had convinced him to take.

_You're gonna need the rest, babe. Besides, it's better than sitting around dwelling on what's going to happen._

Steve had accidentally agreed to the nap after initially saying, 'I'll sleep when I'm dead.' Danny-in-his-head hadn't responded very well to that comment and Steve had been in for the rant of his life, until he fell asleep in the middle of it. If Danny was still pissed when he woke up, he didn't say a word. Just let Steve focus and try to figure out what was happening around him.

And here he was, facing a sad copy of his worst nightmare.

Sounds.

So many different sounds.

It was disorienting after the silence.

Scraping. Dragging. Dropping.

Cursing. Or, at least Steve assumed it was cursing. Once again he lamented that he couldn't speak Spanish, but these guys sure didn't sound happy. On the bright side, if it could be called that, Steve couldn't hear Santos' voice among the mix. He assumed that Santos would be giving orders if he were in the room.

A hand on his arm.

Steve tensed immediately, but there was absolutely nothing he could do.

_Hang on, babe. Wait 'til one of 'em gets closer…_

Steve waited, holding his breath in order to better hear and ascertain the positions of the men. But whatever advantage he gained by not breathing was cancelled out by the desperate pounding of his heart, trying to beat its way out of his chest with fear.

There. A man was doing something directly to his right. He kept brushing Steve's arm accidentally, but it wasn't until he felt the needle pierce his skin that Steve reacted, now knowing for certain exactly where the man was – and what he was trying to do.

Steve launched his hooded head to the right and impacted the man's torso. There was an "oomph" of surprise from the man which turned into a shout when Steve's momentum tipped the chair, Steve and all, over onto the man. Steve was able to throw out his elbow and catch the man in his ribs as they hit the floor. But now that all chances of mobility were over, Steve could do nothing but lie there on top of the man while he presumably shouted at his friends to help him. His collarbone was throbbing again, the impact having ignited a fire in his left shoulder.

Steve felt the vibrations as the chair was grabbed and slowly tipped upright. There was plenty of shouting going on now and he was becoming increasingly disoriented. He had no warning before a fist was slammed so hard into his gut that he couldn't suck in a breath for what felt like five minutes, but was probably less than one.

_Steve, I know we agreed that you had to fight, that you wouldn't just sit and take this quietly, but I'm not sure that you and I had the same kind of thing in mind. _

Steve "glared" at Danny as if they were both sitting next to each other in the Camaro. 'What other kind of fighting did you have in mind, partner?' he thought as he continued to try and catch his breath.

_Oh, gee babe, I dunno. Maybe something that didn't end up with you being used as a human punching bag!_

Ironically, right on the words punching bag, Steve's face began to be used as just that.

Punch.

Okay, so maybe he had pissed them off a bit.

Punch.

But he couldn't just sit here and passively submit himself to this treatment.

Punch. Punch.

Now this was starting to remind him of Afghanistan.

Punch.

Those guys had been determined to rearrange his face, and only his face.

Punch.

Pinch…

Fuck! They'd gotten the IV in without him even noticing this time!

Punch.

And apparently they still weren't done being compared to the fucking Taliban.

Punch. Then…

A commanding shout.

Steve couldn't hear much over the sound of blood rushing in his ears. His bell had certainly been rung thoroughly during his brief stint as a human punching bag. There was blood virtually pouring out of his nose, all to be caught by the hood, of course. The smell was sickening, and there was no way he could get away from it. His jaw was sore and his left eye felt a bit swollen, but there was no serious damage.

All of this was instantly shoved to the back of his mind when he felt cold liquid enter his veins through the IV.

_Hey, Rambo. I thought that tensing up made it worse or something. Didn't I hear that somewhere?_

'Doesn't matter, Danny. Can't stop it anyway,' Steve replied in his mind, sounding resigned again.

_Whoa now, none of that! Haven't we gone over this before, like, a thousand times? You've got an important job to do here, and I can't have you resigning to your fate. And I suppose if that means you get used a human punching bag because you fought back, then so be it. But you gotta keep fighting, babe. You know we're looking for you._

'Yeah, Danny. I know. …I know.' Steve turned his thoughts to the mission that Danny had given him. He had to stay alive, and he had to do it not just for his own sake, but for Grace's sake, and for Danny's sake. For his team's sake. And by alive, he assumed that Danny meant being in one piece, both physically and mentally. Physically, he would heal. Steve knew that. But he wasn't even fully recovered from his last encounter with torture, so this one was going to hurt worse, be worse, and take longer to get over. It was a fact of biology, anatomy, and medicine. And if it was going to be harder physically this time around, there was just no comparing the mental Olympics that he would have to do to come out of this anywhere near as okay as the last time. As he'd "discussed" with Danny-in-his-head before, this was senseless torture, torture for the sake of torture. Steve wasn't protecting any information. He wasn't keeping his mouth shut to save lives. He wasn't defending his country. This would be completely purposeless pain. Pain for the sake of pain. Steve didn't have any training to fight this.

"Putting up a fight, Capitán? It seems that my men disapprove."

Santos' voice became clear above the murmuring that Steve had been tuning out until now.

"But I disapprove when my orders are not followed. You see, I want to follow the script that you have written as closely as possible. Unfortunately I was unable to acquire some of the equipment. We will have to make do, no? But messing up your pretty face does not come until the end, remember?" Santos had such glee in his voice as he said this that Steve felt sick to his stomach.

Or maybe that was the drugs. He hadn't even read the medical report or the official police findings. He had no interest in reliving anything that had happened beyond giving his own formal statement. Maybe he would have read the reports eventually, but he doubted that Danny would have allowed it anytime soon. The man was a serious mother hen, but then Steve didn't blame him for a second, and appreciated it more than a little.

Now though, he wished that he could at least know what types of drugs were running through his veins.

_Sorry, babe. I'm just a part of your head. So if you've got no clue, then I've got no clue. I wish it worked that way. _

Dammit. What a time to be reminded that he was probably going crazy or had already suffered a mental breakdown.

"Now, Capitán. It is time to give you the first dose. I am told that this drug causes, how do you say, _vivid_, hallucinations. It is also very painful during injection. This is from your own statement. I can only hope that we recreate it perfectly." Steve could imagine Santos' smug smile and was almost glad that he couldn't see it.

A command was given which Steve assumed meant "hold him" as a moment later his head was locked in the vice grip of two sets of hands. They certainly had done their homework and remembered how he managed to take out Wo Fat's sidekick the last time. He had almost prevented this IV in the same manner.

Without preamble the needle pierced the back of his neck and he cried out, straining against the hands that held his head.

Ice.

Fire.

It felt like a million fire ants had been released to crawl under his skin, and they spread fire wherever they touched.

He remembered this pain.

He remembered it _vividly_ but he had no idea what was coming up next.

_Hang in there, babe. Hold on. Stay with me for a bit. That's right. You got this, Steve. Good job. _

He heard Danny's encouraging words soothing his burning mind. Last time Wo Fat had shown him home videos of his family first, and then gassed him. Maybe this time his reaction would be different.

_Don't worry about that, Steve. Doesn't matter right now. What matters is your mission. You gotta get back to me and Grace, okay buddy? Me and Grace, remember that. _

The mission. Danny. Grace.

Steve felt himself slipping further away. His thoughts were becoming muddled and Danny's voice was fading fast. The pain had blossomed into the mother of all migraines, but Steve hardly noticed as he focused his last coherent thoughts on his mission.

Ohana.

Danny.

Grace…

...

"Hey, Lou! Come over here, I've got something." Chin waited for the man to emerge from his office before he continued speaking. As he did, he threw an article up on the overhead screens.

"Jerry dug up some information on the cartel in Columbia and I just finished getting the document translated." He looked up at Lou with a weird expression on his face.

"Well don't just stand there. Tell me what it says," Lou demanded impatiently, wondering what this could possibly lead to.

"Santos _isn't_ in charge of the cartel," Chin explained, still with the weird look on his face that Lou now understood as utter confusion.

"What?" Lou was equally as puzzled. That didn't make any sense. "Why would he tell us that he was? What would he gain from that?"

"I have no idea. I'm still waiting to hear back from some contacts that might be able to explain the situation further. And Joe has some CIA favors that may be able to get us some information. Oh, and speaking of Joe, has anyone called Catherine yet?" Chin asked.

"Well, no. That's the short answer anyway." Lou looked like he wasn't going to be forthcoming with any more information, so Chin decided to pry.

"And why shouldn't we call her, Lou? Do you know something that I don't know?" Chin wouldn't necessarily be offended if Lou knew more than he did. Although he and Steve had known each other longer, he knew that Lou and Steve had bonded pretty closely and that they had shared some demons with each other. He wouldn't begrudge either man the support that the other gave, even if he couldn't be a part of it.

"Well, see, he never called her after the last time." Lou looked a bit guilty for telling him even that much.

"And why wouldn't he call her, Lou?" Chin thought he was starting to sound just as bitingly sarcastic as a certain blonde detective that they were both missing terribly at the moment.

"They're not exactly – well, they just… they aren't really together anymore," Lou finally spat out.

"What?" Why hadn't Chin known about this? Surely Danny knew, but did Kono? They all knew that Catherine wasn't coming back anytime soon, that she had decided to stay and help out the village. Steve told them that she was taking an extended leave from Five-0 and that he didn't know when she'd be back. Come to think of it, he _had_ seemed pretty upset when he told them. But why wouldn't he be? He couldn't know when he would next see his not-girlfriend. But this? Chin hadn't expected this!

"Well, technically she told him not to wait for her," Lou clarified. "And Steve would kill me if I told you any of this. He only let me know once he'd practically sworn me to secrecy, said Danny didn't even know."

That came as a further shock to Chin. And a much bigger one.

"Hey, man. It's nothing personal," Lou tried to explain to a speechless Chin. "He just didn't want anyone to pity him, or to focus on him instead of the job. And he figured that Danny had more than enough on his plate. I guess he was right," Lou referenced their current situation.

"But Lou, we're _ohana_! We're supposed to take care of each other. And he's not letting us," Chin argued.

"Hey now. I didn't hear a word of complaint pass his lips when we were all obsessively hovering over him a week ago. Especially Danny, his mother hen."

"So it's okay for us to comfort him when he lets us?" exasperated Chin. He gave a heavy sigh. "You know what, this isn't helping," Chin interrupted himself. "So, we're not calling Catherine. End of story. What about Mary and his Aunt Deb?"

Lou opened his mouth to answer, still feeling slightly guilty for having divulged McGarrett's secret, when the duo were interrupted again. A tall blonde woman in a business suit walked gracefully through the doors with a visitor's badge clipped to her lapel.

"Hi, can we help you with something?" Chin turned and inquired. "It's not a good time for visitors…" he added.

"Hi, my name's Ellie Clayton." Both men were surprised by her strong Australian accent but instantly knew who she was. "Steve and I were supposed to meet for lunch today, but he never showed so I thought I'd stop by and tease him relentlessly for forgetting about me," Ellie explained. "You must be Lieutenant Kelly," she said as she shook his hand, then turned to Lou. "And Captain Grover, it's nice to meet you." They each shook her hand courteously, but there was an awkwardness in the room that Ellie picked up on right away.

"Um, is Commander McGarrett out on a case? I called his phone a few times, but he never answered. That's not really like him." She looked questioningly from one man to the other.

Chin eventually gathered his wits and answered the concerned woman. "Ms. Clayton, of course. We've heard a lot about you. It's nice to finally meet you. Um, I don't really know how to –" he sighed deeply, dropping his head to his chest before looking at their visitor again. "Commander McGarrett was abducted two days ago. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you more than that right now. Hell, I wish that I _had_ more to tell you."

Ellie's hand flew to cover her mouth. "Oh my God, but he just – I mean, all that just happened. And now, oh, it's happened again? I've been buried in a case and I haven't even seen the news. I hadn't even had time in my schedule to meet him until today. And he's been missing two days?"

"Ms. Clayton, Ellie, it's alright. There's nothing you could have done," Lou comforted. "We didn't anticipate this attack at all."

"But," Chin began with a thoughtful look, "maybe you can help us out now."

Lou shot him a questioning look. Chin returned it with a critical one of his own.

"Lou, we need all the help we can get. We've got nothing to go on." Chin waited a beat, then added, "Steve trusts her."

"Alright," Lou conceded after a moment's hesitation. "What did you have in mind?"

"Yes, what _did_ you have in mind?" Ellie looked earnestly at both of them, still very much concerned and slightly shaken, but giving off a confident presence that wouldn't be ignored. "Anything I can do to help, gentlemen. I mean it."

...

His mandatory meeting with the shrink had gone much better than he'd anticipated. He'd surprised himself when he'd agreed to start a low dose of antidepressants. The doc had given a pretty convincing argument; Danny couldn't be there for Grace if he was depressed and wallowing deeply in his own guilt, which he already was. It wouldn't help her recovery at all and might actually hinder it. He was certainly showing all the warning signs of depression. And there was no way he would let himself be responsible for slowing Grace's recovery in any way. If that meant pills for him, so be it. He would do anything for his daughter.

So now, prescription in hand, he had one thought on his mind: seeing his daughter. For the next hour he had to shove all thoughts of Steve and the terrible situation out of his mind. He needed to see Grace.

It had been over 20 hours since he'd left the hospital yesterday afternoon to shower and change in his home. Then he'd had the bright idea to stop by HQ and get an update on Steve but ended up with an update on his girlfriend instead…and the worst phone call of his life. Well, maybe it tied with the phone call from Rick Peterson, but there was certainly more guilt this time around. He supposed it was better that Santos' call had happened in the office rather than the hospital. Despite not being able to get a trace the team was able to get a head start with the new information.

Well, half the team anyway.

Two-fifths if he were honest. One-third if he counted the absent Cath.

After Chin had been to see him this morning and they'd had their long talk, Danny had grabbed a less than tasty hospital breakfast and a shower before changing into the fresh clothes that Kono dropped off. Meanwhile he'd had to convince himself to actually talk to the shrink instead of phoning it in. Well, Steve had done most of the convincing actually.

_C'mon, Danno. One, you know its standard procedure after this type of thing. Two, you know you need it. Even you have to admit it at this point. And three, I'm not around for you to complain to, so you're gonna have to make do with someone else. Got it?_

'But seriously, Steve? A shrink? Even you hate talking to shrinks?' Danny pointed out while he pulled on his pants.

_I may, but I also know when they're necessary. There was a handful of times after some hard missions that I welcomed it. A chance to let go of some of the burden, you know. And I ordered my men to go, too. They weren't too happy about it, but they didn't have a choice. I can't order you, so I'll just have to annoy you until you agree to actually participate. _

'Strawberry Fields?'

_Will you not let that go!?_

'Hey, c'mon babe. Can't blame a guy for trying.'

_Did you listen to anything else I had to say, Danno?_

'I heard you, babe. Keep your shirt on,' he responded as he finished buttoning up his own and tucked it in.

_You know, you really don't have a choice anyway. But it _is_ your choice to let it be useful or not. Don't be ashamed of this, Danno. It's been barely a month since Columbia, you just rescued your partner from a torture chamber and a madman, your daughter is injured, your partner is missing again, and you're being blamed for it all by another psycho madman. I heard Kono say it before and I'll say it again; that's too much for anyone, buddy. Nothin' to be ashamed of. _

'Gee, babe, thanks so much for reminding me. You forget anything?'

_Well, apparently you forgot it all because you had it in your head that you could do this by yourself. Let the professionals do their job, Danny. Please. I have a feeling I'm gonna need you in one piece when this is all over. You hear me, buddy?_

'Yeah,' Danny admitted sadly. 'Yeah, babe. I hear you.'

_Good. _

The smile was obvious in Steve's voice. But rather than the sad, knowing smile that he would have expected, Danny pictured it as one of those obnoxious smiles Steve always gave after he'd been pushing Danny's buttons and felt that he'd succeeded.

_So, what're you gonna tell him about me?_

And that would explain the smile. Smug bastard.

'Shut up, babe. You're not on the table. I'm not trying to look completely insane here.'

_Danno, you're hearing voices. Doesn't that mean you _are_ a bit insane?_

'Hey! Correction. It's just one voice.' He finished tying his shoes and had made up his mind to be _mostly_ honest and forthcoming in this mandatory appointment. 'And it's kinda started to grow on me, so I hope it sticks around for a while,' Danny admitted. He felt a bit of warmth spread through him at that statement.

'Oh, and this is a private appointment! You're not allowed in!'

Danny swore he could see the bastard smiling bigger than ever, and gave a tiny smile of his own at the thought.

Steve had been right of course. And had also admitted to legitimately taking advantage of what the docs had to offer at some point in his life. Danny thought that maybe he should be concerned that the strongest man he knew had admitted to needing help, but after his own chat with the psychiatrist it made Steve seem even stronger in his eyes. Or maybe that was just Danny trying to make himself feel better. This wasn't _actually_ Steve after all, right?

The elevator dinged and he stepped out onto the fourth floor, once again intent on seeing his precious daughter. He hadn't heard anything since he went in for his appointment so he was surprised to see Kono, Rachel and the uni waiting outside the door to the ward.

Once he got closer he realized that Kono had a comforting arm around Rachel…who was sobbing.

He immediately started to run to them and yelled, "What happened? What's going on!?"

Kono's mouth was frozen open. She clearly didn't expect to see him and had no idea what to say.

Rachel's tear-filled eyes met his own.

His heart broke into a million pieces for the second time in 24 hours.

...

It was a warm, sunny day. Beautiful by anyone's standards, but it was the exact opposite to how he felt. It should have been raining. The sky should have been sobbing a monsoon onto the islands.

The whole world, the very earth, should be as sad as he was at this moment.

But if he thought _he_ was sad, it was nothing compared to how his partner must be feeling.

He hadn't even seen Danny since the rescue, not that he was exactly coherent for it anyway. The absence of his partner would have been an outrageous anomaly at any other time in their lives, but Steve understood it all too well at the present moment.

And he didn't blame Danny one bit.

He slipped his cover on and stepped carefully out of the taxi. He accidently bumped his left shoulder on the door as he stood up and tried to hide his hiss of pain. His arm would be in a sling for at least two months so that his broken collarbone could heal.

Dress whites.

He hated them. The monkey suit was so uncomfortable.

Monkey…

Steve thought back to Danny's custody hearing when he had shown up in his dress blues. First, Danny had made a fuss about the color, then had to manhandle him and fix his tie. Seriously, that man and ties. Steve could have easily worn his blues, but he chose the whites.

They were Gracie's favorite.

And today was about Gracie.

He remembered the first time she had seen him wearing them and he'd had to explain every ribbon and medal, every strip of gold and every shiny button. He didn't mind one bit.

"_What's this one, Uncle Steve? What about that one? This one's my favorite! Uncle Steve, what does that one stand for? Uncle Steve, what does valor mean? Uncle Steve…"_

He would never be Uncle Steve again.

A tear rolled openly down his cheek.

He had signed out AMA so that he could be here today.

He was late, but that was the plan. He wasn't even supposed to be out of the hospital yet, but still, he had missed the funeral on purpose so that his presence wouldn't upset or offend his partner.

_Former _partner.

Steve wasn't naïve enough to believe that they could continue as partners after this. He was hopeful that their deep friendship could survive in some form, but he wasn't counting on it. The complete lack of his partner's presence post-rescue lent itself to that assumption.

Steve didn't know if he could ever look at Danny again without the guilt completely taking him over. And Steve knew that Danny wouldn't be able to look at him without seeing the man who was responsible for his daughter's death.

He turned around and paid his fare to the cab driver and straightened up again. His ribs were still quite sore and he had a slight limp from the deep gash in his shin.

It seemed a lifetime ago that he'd cut up his leg trying to get himself and Grace out of the wrecked truck. He'd had to leave her in order to try and save her. He'd _had_ to! Maybe if he hadn't hidden her so well. Maybe if he'd left her closer to the crash site. Maybe if he'd grabbed her backpack with her cell phone in it, which he later found out was working perfectly. That one hurt the most.

Maybe maybe maybe.

He reached his hand up to wipe away the tears that had started to cascade down his cheeks.

He didn't even try to compose himself as he limped slowly toward the fresh mound of dirt in the distance. It was covered in so many flowers and leis that he could hardly see the brown earth underneath. He smiled at the sight and thought that maybe it should be a sunny day after all.

Gracie had brought so much happiness into all of their lives. And now she was gone.

Steve finally reached the fresh grave and gave up any pretense of stoicism he had left.

He started talking to her, apologizing, but all too soon it turned into sobbing, his shoulders shaking as his breath hitched and he shouted his pain. He yelled at the unfairness of it all. He raged against God that He would let this happen! And that he would have to bear the guilt of his decisions for the rest of his miserable life.

At some point he ended up on the ground, his free arm curled around his knees while his left was sandwiched in between, being crushed by the pressure as he tried to literally hold himself together.

Sometime later, when he had no more tears to give, he started talking to Gracie again. Talking about all the fun times they'd had together, everything he'd taught her, how they both loved pineapple on their pizza and loved to tease Danno about it.

But Danno was gone, and he wasn't coming back. Not ever.

Steve sat there in silence, finally enjoying the beautiful day that was now approaching evening. He liked to think that Gracie had something to do with it.

He heard a sound behind him and whipping around to assess the threat, ignoring the pain in his exhausted body.

Chin, Kono and Lou stood there, watching him with a mixture of concern, pity and something else. Fear? Anger? They'd obviously discovered his escape from the hospital and wouldn't be very happy about it, but they must understand. Steve had been in and out of consciousness for only two days and no one had even proposed the idea that he try to come today. But he'd overheard enough and once everyone abandoned their vigil to attend the funeral, he'd made his escape.

He was in a lot of pain by now, but it was muted somehow, not nearly as bad as it should be. Steve hadn't bothered to pick up any of his prescriptions. But he felt so numb that it almost didn't matter. He'd wanted as much time alone with Grace as possible, but he supposed that time was up now.

He made to stand and quickly realized that he couldn't. His limbs were stiff and sore and as he tried a second time he felt a hand on his good arm. Chin was by his side, helping him up. Steve thought back to just over two weeks ago, when Chin and Danny had both helped him to stand and led him out of Wo Fat's torture chamber.

This was far worse. He felt more pain and loss now than he had ever thought possible. What Wo Fat had done was nothing compared to this sadistic cruelty. _This_ torture would never end.

The trio of remaining teammates surrounded their broken leader as they walked slowly to Lou's SUV.

No words were spoken. None were needed. They were all grieving and the air was thick with it.

Steve took one last look at the colorful mound of fresh dirt as Lou slowly pulled away.

They arrived at Steve's house in what felt like the blink of an eye. Chin got out with him and walked him to the door. As he let himself in, he stopped in the doorway and gave Chin a look. Although their silent communication had never been on par with that of Danny and Steve, Chin got the hint and gave him a gentle pat on the back.

"One of us will be by tomorrow. Call if you need anything."

Steve just nodded in response, too exhausted for words. He walked into his house and closed the door behind him.

The last thing he was expecting was a fist to the face.

"You son of a bitch! How _dare_ you go visit Gracie without saying anything to me!"

As Steve recovered from the unexpected hit and found his balance he said the only thing that he could think of, the words that had been playing over and over in his mind since he'd woken up and been given the horrible news. "I'm sorry, Danny. I'm so, so sorry!"

Steve's words came out as a whisper despite the intensity and anger that had settled like a fog in the dark room. It took Steve another second to realize that there was another unexpected scent in the room, alcohol. Danny reeked of it.

"Oh, you're _sorry_!? Is that supposed to make me feel better!? It that supposed to bring my daughter back you worthless piece of shit!?"

Steve thought about opening the door and calling for Chin but wasn't given the chance as Danny's fist came once again out of the darkness. This time he aimed lower and caught Steve in his still healing ribs. He went down with a gasp, all thoughts of yelling for help lost with the breath that he wouldn't recover for almost a minute.

Steve had become accustomed to the darkness and reliance on his hearing in the bunker with Santos, so he could tell that Danny was pacing angrily across the wood floor. His gait was unsteady and his footfalls were heavy. But they could still barely be heard over his constant yelling of obscenities at his former best friend and partner.

"Danny," Steve called out once he had enough air in his lungs. "Danny, you're really drunk. Let's just sleep this off and talk about it in the morning, huh?"

Apparently it was the wrong thing to say. But Steve didn't really believe there was a right thing to say either.

"Just sleep it off, huh? That's what you want me to do? Just sleep off my daughter's death, pretend it never happened!? That would be _so_ perfect for you, wouldn't it! You'd love that, wouldn't you! You might be able to pretend it never happened! Lock it up with all of the other horrible murders you've committed! Hell, you probably enjoy it by now you sick bastard!"

Danny didn't stop there. He kept raging but Steve could barely stand to listen anymore. It was Danny saying these things, and yet it wasn't. Danny would never…but that was before.

Before Steve killed Grace.

Everyone told him it wasn't his fault, and while he heard the words and knew them to be the truth, believing it was another thing entirely. He could say it all he wanted, but Steve would never feel that way. He would always feel responsible. Until the day he died.

"It's my fault, Danny."

Steve's words were so quiet that he didn't think Danny heard them at first. But they must have slowly penetrated his fogged mind.

He had a moment's notice before Danny's foot connected once again with his ribs. He was on the floor now with Danny hovering over him. Grace would be appalled at the state of his dress whites now.

"Say it again!" Danny shouted.

Steve grabbed a shaky breath and repeated, "It's MY fault, Danny."

The fists started raining down on him them with more force than before. Steve's confession seemed to spur Danny on, and he didn't feel inclined to defend himself.

He deserved this. He'd been waiting for it. He welcomed it.

"Say it again! SAY IT AGAIN!" Danny continually shouted.

"IT'S MY FAULT THAT GRACE IS DEAD!" Steve screamed.

The shout seemed to scare Danny out of his rage. But the reprieve only lasted a brief second. In the dim light that Steve's eyes had finally adjusted to he saw his former partner's face contort in pure rage and helpless grief and a second later Steve was seeing stars as his face was smashed once again.

He was losing the battle to stay conscious. Danny might kill him in his own home. He felt his nose crack and blood came pouring out. With the last bit of air in his lungs he kept repeating "I'm sorry, I'm sorry…" hoping that Danny would forgive himself for this one day.

Just when he thought it was all over he saw a bright white light appear…

And he welcomed it.

But instead of peace the light only brought more pain and confusion.

"Ah, are you back with us, Capitán?"

Steve's chin rested against his chest and he felt blood and tears flowing in a waterfall down his face.

"Wha-" he choked on a sob as he squeezed his eyes shut against the migraine in his head. It was only compounded by the soreness of his face, jaw and nose.

And his heart.

_Steve!_

"Ahhhh!" he cried out in pain. Pain in his head. Pain in his mind. Pain everywhere. He had no idea what was going on. His chin was roughly grabbed and his head forced upright. If it weren't for the bruising grip on his chin, his head felt like it would roll right off onto the ground. It didn't even feel attached to his body. Steve didn't feel like he had a body.

"You are suffering now, yes? You say that it is your fault that little Grace is dead, Capitán?" It was Santos' hand holding up his head. Santos' voice full of sadistic glee. "I regret to inform you that this is true, my men have just reported to me."

_He's lying, Steve! STEVE! Listen to me, buddy! He's lying! Don't believe him! We don't know that it's true! Don't-_

Steve cut off Danny's voice. It hurt too much to hear it right now, to be reminded of the pain that he'd caused. It cut him like a knife. He deserved whatever Santos was doing to him.

Danny had told him his mission was to survive and be there for his ohana. Danny and Grace. If Grace wasn't there anymore, if he couldn't see her smiling face ever again, what was he fighting for? For Danny? Who would hate him forever and never want to speak to him again?

He had caused this.

He deserved it.

His muddled mind and confused thoughts swirled around in his head, but one thing that he clearly remembered was Grace's death, the memory spurred on by Santos' confirmation. He heard Danny screaming at him somewhere deep in his mind and recalled all the horrible things Danny had shouted as he beat Steve almost to death.

He remembered it all, and he hated himself for it. But he couldn't escape the pain.

He was tied up. The hood over his head was soaked in blood and he choked on the smell, gagging against it. But his stomach had nothing to bring up. His head hurt so badly that he couldn't think straight, could only put one coherent thought together; Grace was dead.

Grace was dead!

_Gracie_ was gone.

And it was his fault.

Danny screamed and raged in the background endlessly, trying to escape into Steve's mind. But he wouldn't let him, he couldn't take that abuse again. Steve was in enough pain.

Maybe Santos was talking to him. He was so numb that he didn't register anything around him. He could still have been of the receiving end of a right hook and mightn't have noticed.

When the hand supporting his chin finally released him, his head sank down to his chest... and his heart plummeted further.

He began to sob. It was quiet, almost gentle at first. But once he gave in, he gave into his grief completely. He stopped trying to hold it in. He cried harder.

For all of the pain he had caused.

For Grace, for her Danno, for _his _Danno, for his own guilt that made him want to die.

He didn't even register first the shocked intake of breath and then the gleeful laughter from his tormentor.

He no longer had the willpower to fight Danny from breaking out into his mind to heap more abuse on him. He couldn't find the strength to care either as he sobbed and welcomed the pain that he deserved, the pain that Danny's voice would bring. He sobbed until he was completely exhausted, tear tracks chasing lines down his blood-stained face, his grief attempting to cleanse the physical evidence of his pain.

And Danny broke free.

_STEVE!_

But it was too late. Steve was already unconscious and his partner's pleas fell on deaf ears.

...

TBC…

Well…

I'll leave you there for a bit until the next chapter... Check back on the weekend.

**Warning/spoiler for this chapter/this should help keep your heart rate in check:** No one has actually died! …yet ;)


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much for the abundant and overwhelmingly awesome reviews! I didn't reply to every one of them this time because I was busy trying to get this chapter out like I promised. I didn't quite make the "weekend" in my time zone, sorry about that.

There also might not be another chapter for a while. My best friend is flying in this coming weekend and I fully plan on being as social as possible. So the next chapter will probably be at least a week away unless I go absolutely insane and knock out another chapter before Thursday, which could totally happen.

**WARNINGS:** Steve finally swears like the sailor that he is. Herein lies waterboarding. If you choose to skip this part, I've attached a brief summary at the bottom so you can still follow the plot into the next chapter. But the Steve scene is safe to read for a while, until the water shows up.

Also note, if you didn't notice I changed the rating.

Also, also: The Danno voice is back! I got yelled at plenty for that so enjoy its triumphant return with a classic song!

* * *

><p>CHAPTER 8<p>

"What happened? What's going on!?"

Kono jolted back to reality at the shout and the horrified look on Danny's face.

"No! Danny, Grace is fine. She's okay, Danny! Nothing – nothing happened, okay?" She let go of Rachel and reached out to the distraught man. This must have looked horrible to him, he must have thought…

"Here, sit down before you fall down. Let me explain, brah." Kono guided him to the chairs lined up against the wall, then went back for Rachel and did the same. Both parents moved like lifeless puppets, going wherever she led them.

Danny had unconsciously put an arm around Rachel's shoulders to comfort the still crying woman, but he only had eyes for Kono.

She didn't really know how to start, but she thought back to everything the doctor had told them and realized that she could have been giving Danny much worse news.

"First of all, the doctors told us that Grace is doing really, really well. They don't think there will be any long term effects and there is still no sign of a secondary brain injury. So that's really good news." She smiled and waited a beat, seeing if Danny would react at all but he just continued to stare at her, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Kono grabbed his free hand to offer what comfort she could as she continued. "Grace woke up about an hour ago. Like, really woke up. She knew who Rachel was, who I was, and she understood that she was in the hospital. She doesn't remember the accident though. She doesn't actually remember Friday at all. Not school, not seeing Steve, not waking up in the morning – just going to bed Thursday night and then waking up here. So she was pretty confused." Kono waited to make sure that Danny understood everything that she said, she was trying to be as delicate with him as the doctor had been towards Rachel when giving his diagnosis. Rachel was still sniffling and Kono gave a grateful smile as the officer on duty walked over and set a tissue box down next to them. Danny looked at the box as if it was grenade, liable to go off if anyone felt the need to touch it. Kono decided to rip the Band-Aid off a bit faster than the doctor had earlier.

"Grace was having a tough time speaking though. Sometimes she couldn't find the right word and she couldn't pronounce some of them very well. She was speaking really slowly. Dr. Koning, the resident neurologist, explained that this is not uncommon with this type of injury and that Grace will need anywhere from a few weeks to a few months of speech therapy to recover fully."

Kono's hand was in a vice grip by this point, and she was sure that Rachel's shoulders were getting the same treatment. Danny was obviously fighting not to show how upset he was but Kono could see the tears filling up his eyes, waiting for their chance to escape. He probably wanted to stay composed for Rachel's sake, but he wasn't fooling anyone.

"But she _will_ recover fully, Danny." Kono felt it was important to remind him of this. To remind both of them.

"What else?" Danny asked in a small voice. It hardly sounded like his own, which was usually so full of life and overly expressive. There was a lot of Danny that had been buried or lost these last few days.

"She, um – she has a lot of weakness on her left side. She couldn't really squeeze the doctor's hand at all, but she was also getting pretty exhausted by that point, so that may have contributed. She fell asleep again about a minute later. It really wore her out." Kono squeezed Danny's hand tighter and watched as the tears spilled over onto his cheeks when he squeezed his eyes shut. Once he started it seemed that he couldn't stop. He removed his arm from Rachel's shoulders and stole his hand back from Kono so that he could bury his face in his palms. It took Kono a moment to realize that he was mumbling something beneath the heartache. She had no idea how to comfort him.

… … …

"I wasn't here. I wasn't here. I wasn't here…" Danny repeated over and over, feeling like absolute scum for not being there for the first moment when his daughter was awake and coherent. Would she remember that he was absent from her bedside? Would she hold it against him? More than anything he wanted, _needed_, to be there for his daughter right now – most importantly for her sake but also selfishly for his own well-being.

_Danno. Hey, buddy. It's alright, okay? You were busy taking care of yourself so that you _can_ be here for Gracie, alright? You were doing what you needed to do so that you can be here from now on, okay? It's okay, buddy. Don't be so hard on yourself. _

'But I wasn't here, Steve. I wasn't here when she needed me.'

_But you were where _you_ needed to be. Remember what the doc said, that the only way you'll be able to be there for Gracie is if you take care of yourself first?_

'Yeah. Yeah, I remember,' Danny conceded to Steve's voice of wisdom. "Hey, wait a minute. Didn't I tell you that was a private meeting?' Danny could once again imagine Steve's smug, childlike grin.

_And when have I ever listened to you, Danno?_

Danny sniffled a bit more and straightened up, not giving his Neanderthal partner a response. He emerged from behind his hands to see two concerned faces staring back at him.

"I'm so sorry, Daniel. You must have thought – I was just so upset seeing Grace like that. I just, I needed a moment," Rachel had mostly regained her composure and reciprocated the comforting gesture from earlier, putting an arm around her ex-husband. She was surprised when he leaned into it.

"Dr. Koning said she'd probably sleep for a while, but how about we get back in there and you can sit with Gracie. I know you haven't seen her in about a day, Danny, and a lot has happened. But she's looking really good, brah. C'mon." Kono stood up and held out a hand.

"Anything new on Steve?" Danny thought to ask as he grabbed Kono's hand and stood, Rachel's arm keeping its comforting presence on his shoulders.

"Um…maybe something. Nothing very helpful, but we're looking into it. I'll catch you up later. Let's go."

As concerned as he was for his partner, Danny was just as excited and apprehensive to see his daughter after nearly 24 hours. So he logged the information to ask about later and mentally prepared himself to sit with Grace for as long as it took.

… … …

_30 bottles of beer on the wall, 30 bottles of beer. You take one down, pass it around, 29 bottles of beer on the wall._

_29 bottles of beer on the wall, 29 bottles of beeeeeer. Take one down pass it around…_

God, that was annoying.

_Steve! Steve? Hey, you back with me!? What did you see, Steve? C'mon, babe. You gotta talk to me, you gotta let me know what's going on. Steve! STEVE!_

'Shut up, Danny!' Steve yelled at the voice in his head. His thoughts were becoming clearer by the minute, but an extra voice in his head was complicating things and making it harder to think.

Steve wondered how long he had been unconscious. He was feeling increasingly disoriented by this damn hood, never being able to see a sliver of light or the glimpse of a face. Long-term sensory deprivation could really fuck someone up, he knew that. He just hoped his situation wouldn't turn out to be long-term, then he wouldn't have to worry about it.

As Steve's mind sharpened, he started to remember things in more detail. He thought back to when he woke up, to Santos' voice telling him that Grace was dead, to him believing it, to Danny screaming at him in his head.

But there was something else.

A fresh mound of dirt. Small, for a smaller casket and occupant. Danny, drunk and raging, and beating him to death.

_Oh God, Steve. That's – that's what you saw? I'm so – babe, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't understand. I thought you were just freaking out and believing what Santos said. I didn't… Steve, you know that was the drugs right? Babe, I would never, NEVER, do that to you. I would never blame you like that. Well, I don't really know how I'd handle… that. Not well, I know. But I wouldn't blame you, babe. Steven, I'm so sorry you had to see that. That you had to live that. It's not true, babe. Gracie isn't dead. Steven, listen to me. Gracie isn't dead!_

'You can't know that, Danno. Santos could be telling the truth. You're just a voice in my head, you said so yourself. So don't tell me what you can't know.'

Steve was feeling so lost and dejected. He was ashamed of his reaction after coming out of the hallucination. But he had been so disoriented, so overwhelmed, there was no way that he could have handled that information, those emotions, even on a good day. Santos must have heard him screaming at the Danny in his hallucination. He could picture it _perfectly_ in his mind, Danny's face screwed up in grief and rage, his fists pounding Steve into his living room floor, and Steve screaming at him, "It's my fault that Grace is dead!" over and over again.

_Babe. _

_Steven. _

_I wouldn't…_

_I couldn't ever do that to you. You know that, right?_

The thing was, Steve wouldn't blame Danny for reacting like that. Steve would certainly beat himself up enough for the both of them if that outcome turned out to be true. 'We'll find out when I get out of here, Danno.'

_Steve…_

Danny sounded really hurt.

Steve remembered his hallucinations from Wo Fat's drugs, how he thought his dad was alive and how everyone he knew was present, but not quite themselves. But somehow this didn't seem to be the same. It certainly didn't feel the same. Wo Fat's dream world had been so damn happy, Steve wished that he go back there and bask in the reprieve from this living nightmare. But Wo Fat's dream world had also been more painful to wake up from, to live in again. Those painful minutes when he had expected to see his dad alive again but then discovered the truth… Steve couldn't do that again. Maybe this time reality would prove to be more tolerable once he wrapped his head around it. Now Santos' dream world was the nightmare, and Steve had to hope that when he found out the truth in the real world, that it wouldn't crush him completely.

He had to believe that Grace was alive, that his sacrifice was successful.

_Steven. You can't shut me out like that again, babe. _

'Sorry, Danny. But you – your voice… it was too hard. I couldn't – I just couldn't listen to it…'

_I understand, babe. I get it, but please, don't do that again. You need me, Steve. I can help. _

'How can you help when you don't know what I've seen? You weren't there. You have no idea what it was like…'

_I know. And I'm sorry. I wish I could be there to let you know that none of it is real. _

'But what if it is, Danny? What if – what if Gracie really is gone? I can't live in that world, Danny. I can't be responsible for that.' Tears pricked Steve's eyes as he recalled preparing his dress whites, making sure they were perfect… for Gracie. He remembered the moment that he realized he would never be "Uncle Steve" again.

_You can't think like that, Steve! Stop it! And you can't believe anything that Santos says. Everything he's doing is to hurt you._

'But what if it all turns out to be true, Danny? I can't live in a world without you and Gracie. I can't-'

Steve thought was cut off by the door opening again, and it immediately set his heart to pounding. He hated that his body was responding so significantly to the fear. Usually he was better at controlling himself, and keeping his breathing and heart rate in check. But his body was more than willing to betray his fear.

Men grunting. Carrying something.

Slosh.

Water.

Fuck. Steve knew exactly what was coming.

But he would take this over drugs any day. He was trained for this. Hell, this was part of his SEAL training. Hell week. Mission preparation. He just had to focus on trying not to let too much water get into his lungs because it could cause severe complications. Plus, he wouldn't have to try and catch his breath to give unhelpful answers to questions this time around. He could focus all of his physical and mental energy on his training, on controlling his body and on keeping his fear in check.

_That's the spirit partner! Way to go with this positive thinking, that's more like it. _

'Jesus, Danny. You're a better cheerleader than Gracie, where are your pom-poms?' Looking back on this situation, Steve would realize how disconcerting it was that he could crack jokes and make fun of his partner right before being waterboarded. But right now the levity was doing wonders for his heart rate and mental state.

Steve counted at least three heavy buckets being dropped to the floor. There were probably more, but Santos' voice distracted him from hearing anything else.

"Capitán, are you prepared to relive the next part of your memory? I am sad that there are no more drugs first. It was very fun to listen to you cry. I did not expect this of you. You are Navy SEAL, you should be stronger than that. But perhaps you are not as strong as you think."

Santos' words cut deep, but Steve wouldn't allow himself to lose focus. He, too, was ashamed of himself for how he'd reacted. For now he pushed it out of his mind. But he wasn't going to be able to avoid it much longer if Santos kept reminding him of how weak he'd been.

_Love is not weakness, Steven! Don't you have some kind of tactical breathing thing you can focus on instead? Don't listen to this idiot. He wouldn't understand love if it slapped him in the face!_

Steve smiled inwardly at Danny's judgment.

Steve realized a moment before it started how much more this was going to suck than the last time. The hood over his head was soaked in his own blood and tears. And there were more men available. Wo Fat hadn't had any extra hands to –

Whoosh! The air left his lungs like it was being sucked out into the vacuum of space as he was punched in the gut – hard.

Steve had no time to gasp for more air as the hood was pulled tight over his face and the water came cascading down.

He had no air.

He wasn't going to make it through this.

He lost control of his thoughts as the need to breathe overcame every other impulse.

_Hang on, SuperSEAL! Don't give up on yourself so fast. You don't even need air yet. It's only been a couple of seconds. It's all in your mind, think through it, babe._

Danny was right. He could hold his breath for six minutes. It didn't matter that he'd started without a reserve of air. It didn't matter that he felt like he was drowning.

And then just as suddenly as it started it was over.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three br-

Before he could finish his third gulp of oxygen his head was forced back and the hood pulled tight again. This time the water came before the punch. Steve had a few seconds to fight the sensation of drowning before a fist to his midsection had him involuntarily sucking in the water being poured onto his airways.

He started to buck and choke and pulled hard against the restraints on his wrists and ankles. Danny might have been screaming at him, but he couldn't hear anything over the roar in his ears.

Why wasn't this ending? He couldn't breathe! Santos was going to kill him!

Then just as suddenly as the last time, it was over and he was free to breathe again.

Except he couldn't.

Too much water had worked its way into his lungs and he spent his free moments coughing and gagging, trying in vain to pull in some air. He would settle for just an atom of oxygen right now. A few molecules of air.

He could vaguely hear Santos cackling and making threats. Mocking him once again for being weak, for not being as tough as a Navy SEAL should.

He could also just barely make out Danny's voice shouting insults right back. It would have been humorous if Steve wasn't so worried about staying alive. Santos was fighting dirty. Steve began to think that maybe the reasoning that needled Santos into calling Danny wasn't far off the mark. Santos didn't seem entirely experienced at torturing someone and was liable to go too far. Steve could easily die from this.

His thoughts were interrupted by the hood being pulled tight again. The water poured over his face and he tried to keep calm, tried to control his mind and accept that although he _felt_ exactly like he was drowning, it was just an illusion. But it was hard to fight an illusion. Just like it was hard to fight a hallucination.

His own thoughts had distracted him successfully through the third round. He still coughed and gagged but was able to pull in a breath that eased the burning in his lungs.

"Hmm this seems to be too easy for you," Santos sounded incredibly disappointed. And that was such a bad sign. This wasn't easy at all. This wasn't anywhere near easy, and upping the difficulty was likely to cause permanent damage. Steve was right, Santos had no clue what he was doing!

"We make it harder, yes? More pain. More suffering."

Despite the fear gnawing at him, Steve couldn't help but taunt his captor. It made him feel braver, stronger, and he would take any boost he could get right now. "Do your worst." His voice sounded pathetic. Weak and raspy, like he'd been smoking for 80 years and was on his deathbed.

_Seriously, Rambo? _That's_ the threat you're going with? You are a walking cliché, you know that, babe._

Steve smiled around a mouthful of air as Danny joined in on the weak joke. The levity was disturbed by round four.

And Santos wasn't joking. His shirt was ripped off violently, leaving him helplessly exposed. He was already helpless, but this just furthered the sensation and made him feel more vulnerable. Maybe Santos knew exactly what he was doing after all.

Then there was a knife at his chest. A literal knife, not just the stabbing pain of one like a fist connecting with his weak ribs. But an actual blade. It was carving into him and he struggled not to buck against the pain as he also struggled against the water once again pounding onto his face. They must be on the third bucket by now. This had to be over soon. He couldn't do this forever.

Against his will he started to buck and strain against the torture. His wrists fought painfully against the restraints, his neck muscles bulging as he tried to escape the stream of water, and his chest involuntarily heaved and jerked against the pain being whittled into it. This just made everything hurt worse. The knife dug deeper, Steve lost his focus and started gulping desperately for air.

He was breathing water by this point. Plus anything that was still attached to the hood, although it had been washed almost clean in the previous three rounds. He bucked and spluttered and fought, but still it continued. A headache blossomed behind his eyes as he was rapidly deprived of all the oxygen in his system. He could tell that he was losing consciousness, but still it continued.

A moment later his head was pulled off his chest when a hand grabbed his hair through the hood and wrenched it up. He must have passed out. His chest was burning. His collarbone felt ten times worse after the struggle. He must have shifted the bones again. It felt worse. More painful. But his lungs hurt the most. As his head was pulled up and his airway was freed from its restricted position bent over his chest he tried to take a huge lungful of air. But his body revolted and he found himself vomiting and dry-heaving, violently and painfully ripping his hair free of the hand that clasped it.

Acid burned his aching throat and whatever wasn't caught by the hood dribbled pathetically down his chin. His head felt like it weighed ten thousand pounds and without anything to help support it fell back onto his stinging chest. He tried breathing again with a bit more success.

He was disappointed that his body had rebelled so violently. It was a sick thought, but this was the first water that he'd had since his capture. Today was probably Sunday. He had been captured Friday night after the forced car accident and an impromptu trip through the jungle. Santos must have called Danny on Saturday, because Steve didn't think he'd lost that much time. Hell, it could still be Saturday. Wo Fat had only had him for a day, and that had felt like an eternity. But this already felt longer. It could by Monday or Tuesday. He needed water. But he'd just emptied his stomach. So now he needed more water, and it was obvious by his treatment so far that Santos wasn't planning on providing him any. Steve had no clue what was in the IV. It was obviously some type of fluid and was hopefully providing him with some form of hydration, but it wouldn't be enough.

_Seriously, babe!? You're hoping for round five!? Man, I knew you were crazy, but not this crazy. This is insane, babe! You could have died last time. You could die if he does it again! _

'I need water, Danny. This is water.'

Those were the facts.

_Gee, you make it sound so simple. Not like its torture or anything. You are certifiable, you know that! You can't do this again, babe! I can't just sit here and let this happen again. _

'You've got to, Danny. Got no choice.' Steve could hear the murmurs of conversation and what sounded like the goons packing up and leaving. He couldn't let that happen.

"That all you got, Santos?" he rasped. Steve was honestly surprised that his weakened voice was heard over all of the scuffling and grunting.

Santos started laughing and Steve thanked God that this might just work. He also prayed to get through round five, if he was lucky enough for it to happen.

"More, Capitán? I did not think you could handle it."

"C'mon. Read your facts. Wo Fat had more balls than you." Steve had to pause his insults as he coughed and gagged around another breath. "He didn't quit at round four. Thought you wanted to do this right, but you're just chicken shit, you motherfucker." Steve coughed again and hoped that he didn't sound completely pathetic and weak.

_You tell him, SuperSEAL! I guess you _can_ curse like a sailor. Never thought I'd hear it come out of your Officer and a Gentleman mouth though. _

"So, what's it gonna be, Santos?" Steve wheezed around another breath, spurred on by Danny's glee. "You gonna run away with your tail between your-"

He didn't get another word out as his head was viciously whipped to the side by a powerful punch. It brought all the muted aches and pains back to life. Steve was going to continue to gloat and needle his captor, but his plan was preemptively rewarded when his head was yanked back and the hood was pulled tight against his sore face.

The water came crashing down a moment later. Steve waited a beat, hoping that all the vomit and bile would be washed away quickly, then focused on the task at hand. He opened his mouth wide and let the torrent of water push the disgusting cloth further into his mouth. Once it was there, he closed his mouth around it and sucked down the sweet liquid, not caring that the water continued to pour onto his face. Once he'd sucked it dry he opened his mouth for a second go, but the water stopped almost immediately with shouts of "Basta! Basta!" He sucked down what water he could but there wasn't much.

"So this is your plan, Capitán? You think you can trick me into this? But no, I have figured it out, and now you will pay for what you say and do."

Steve prayed that the water would stay in his stomach through what was to come.

These men certainly seemed hell bent on forcing it back out of him as they viciously attacked his midsection with their fists. Again, he couldn't breathe. It didn't feel the same as waterboarding, but it had the same effect. There was no air to be had. He cried out again and again as his ribs weakened and the fresh wounds on his chest were broken open anew. This wasn't going to stop until he puked or passed out. Steve knew which one he preferred by far.

He had to find a way out of this soon, or he was going to lose the precious little bit of water that he'd managed to suck down.

_Fake it, babe. _

It was the only option. Steve only hoped that he could do it convincingly enough. He had to. The fists continued to pound into his gut, brutal and unforgiving. He heard a snap and felt the white hot pain of a broken rib scraping against raw nerves. He gagged for real, felt the bile rising in his throat and just barely managed to swallow it back down. He made a few more gagging sounds and realized that the fists had stopped.

Maybe he would get to keep his water after all.

Not a second later the surprise of his success was chased away by a needle piercing the back of his neck. He cried out and nearly gagged again, this time from the instant pain and absolute terror. He didn't want to be pulled back into his worst nightmare.

_Alright, babe. You can get through this, Steve. You have to. I'll be right here when you wake up, okay? But you've got to listen to me, babe! Okay? You've got to hear me when you get back. It's gonna be rough, but I'll be here for you. Grace is alright, okay? Remember that, Steve. Grace's funeral was a hallucination, it didn't happen. I'll be here for you when you get out…_

Steve faded away with Danny's pleas echoing in his pounding head.

… … …

Amber cautiously approached the door to the PICU. She had stayed away for a whole day, not wanting to get in the way of Rachel without Danny there to be a buffer. She didn't feel it was appropriate, or perhaps she just didn't feel comfortable. She'd been by to see Danny after he'd suddenly been admitted, but he was in a deep sleep and no one had wanted to wake him up, figuring it was the first good sleep he'd had in the few days since this nightmare started.

But Amber really wanted to see Grace for herself, see that she was doing okay. The little girl had quickly wormed her way into Amber's heart. The first day they had spent together was when Danny was trapped under the collapsed building. She, Danny, and Grace had spent a wonderful weekend together after that. That was actually the first day she had met Grace as well, with Amber in her underwear, wearing Danny's t-shirt. She smiled as she remembered being ambushed by Grace in the kitchen. She hoped that they could build more memories like that, the three of them. Well, maybe slightly less embarrassing, but right now Amber cherished the few memories they had made together.

Kono had texted her about an hour ago, saying that Danny was discharged and was back by Grace's side. Amber hadn't stopped to think about it. She'd just gotten ready quickly and started driving to the hospital before she could talk herself out of it.

But now that she was here she felt like an intruder. Danny and Rachel were both sitting on one side of Grace's bed with Kono on the other. Kono spotted her immediately and must have said something to Danny, who turned around in his chair a bit frantically. This would probably be awkward for him, too.

Amber had never met Rachel and from the way that Danny talked about her, she didn't want to be meeting her anytime soon either. But that thought had just been thrown out the window.

Danny stood up to walk over to her. He looked better, rested. Still stressed and worried, but there was more color in his cheeks and he had more energy. The dead look from before had faded to the background. He greeted her with a peck on the cheek and a tight hug that she returned in full. As they pulled away from each other he surprised her and gave a little smile.

"It's really good to see you, thanks for coming," he said as he took her hand.

"Of course. Kono texted me to let me know you were discharged. How's Gracie?"

Danny pulled up another chair and now they were all sitting around the bed with Amber on one side of Danny and Rachel on the other. There was no way that this was protocol.

"I'll go get coffee. Does anyone want anything?" Rachel abruptly stood and asked. Amber and Rachel hadn't actually been formally introduced, but she could forgive Danny the lapse in etiquette given the present situation.

Amber could also feel the tension in the room. It didn't skyrocket or hover like a fog, but it wasn't comfortable either.

"Coffee, please," Danny said.

Kono stood up. "I need some coffee, too. I'll join you." The two women left and Danny and Amber were alone for the moment.

"How's Grace doing, Danny? And how are you?" Amber asked again, concerned at his absent-mindedness.

"She's, uh – she's doing okay, I guess. The girls said she woke up this morning for a while. Talked to the doctor, answered her questions. She had some trouble talking and Dr. Koning said she'll need some speech therapy."

"That's not too bad at all, Danny. We can get through this. We _will_ get through this, all of us." Amber grabbed his hand and held on tight while she looked him in the eyes.

"Yeah. Yeah, I guess it's good, considering what could have happened." She saw him swallow heavily at the thought. "She also couldn't squeeze the doctor's hand with her left hand, but we don't know yet if she was just tired or didn't hear the question or something. She hasn't woken up again."

Danny looked more upset by that and Amber saw some tears prick his eyes. But she understood where his deeper pain was coming from.

"Danny, it's okay that you weren't here. Rachel and Kono were, right? Grace needs everyone and anyone right now. She knows how much you love her. Everyone knows how much you love her. You not being here isn't going to change that one bit, okay?" Amber squeezed his hand harder.

"I know. I know, it's just…hard," Danny responded, staring off into space. "I wasn't around for a whole day because of the phone call and the fact that I couldn't handle it like a normal human being."

"Hey," she cut him off. "I don't really understand what happened, but I know you're not weak, Danny. There's a lot going on right now, with Grace, with Steve, and you just lost your brother." She hated to list off everything that was going wrong right now, but he had to understand that it was okay to need help, or to have a bit of a breakdown. "It's okay to need help right now."

Danny gave a weird little smile, still staring off into space. "Steve said the same thing."

"When?" Amber asked, curious as to how that was possible, or maybe it had just been about Danny's brother.

"Oh, it's nothing. Nevermind." Danny looked a little panicked, so Amber decided to let it drop. The last thing he needed was more stress. "How are you? What have you been doing?" he asked, trying to make it sound casual, but it was so forced that it wasn't fooling either of them.

"Well, it's the weekend, so nothing really. Back to work tomorrow, but I've talked to my boss and he understands that I may run off suddenly if I get a phone call."

Danny smiled at her at that comment. But as soon as the smile appeared it was gone and he looked a bit troubled and seemed like he wanted to say something. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by the return of the coffee bearers.

Whatever he had wanted to say he obviously didn't want to say in public, so he thanked Rachel for the coffee and they all resumed their quiet, slightly awkward, obviously-against-protocol vigil.

A few minutes into the silence Kono straightened up in her chair. She looked over at Danny in surprise, then to Rachel.

"What? What is it, Kono?" Danny asked, his voice overflowing with concern.

"She just – she squeezed my hand," Kono beamed as she said this.

Danny and Rachel smiled back brightly in reply and hugged each other. Amber felt a bit left out and was confused for a moment until she realized the reason for their excitement.

Kono was holding Grace's left hand.

… … …

TBC…

Despite the darkness for Steve, I hope that leaving you on this happier note will keep you going for a whole week while you wait.

Since I know I'm going to lose viewers after the rating change, I'd love some extra reviews to keep my confidence up! ;) Thanks so much for reading and sharing your thoughts!

**SUMMARY:** Steve is waterboarded. Santos wants to make it harder and punches him so that he loses focus and can't breathe or control himself. Santos also cuts him a few times to make it worse and make it harder. Steve realizes that he hasn't had water to drink in about two days and may die without it. So he goads Santos into waterboarding him a final time and uses it to suck the moisture out of the hood. Santos stops the torture when he realizes what Steve is doing. Steve gets another needle in his neck and we are left assuming that he will drift off into another hallucination. Danny-in-his-head keeps talking to him, saying that he'll be there when Steve wakes up, and that Steve can't shut him out like he did the last time.


End file.
